What a rough week!

It's been a doozy of a week, putting it mildly.  Dropping back about 9 days (to Friday, March 15), it looked as though things were going better than expected for Round #2.  I was feeling fine, a bit bloated perhaps, but otherwise perfectly fine.  I was even able to get some important assignments completed for work, something that is only possible when the fog of "chemo brain" is low and energy is high.

Come Saturday (March 16), I could tell that things were starting to head in a bad direction.  I knew I had put on 15 pounds over the past 5 days (all as water/fluid gain) and I was not expelling these liquids from my body.  I wasn't overly concerned, however, since I had the exact same weight gain during Round #1.  By Sunday (March 17), I did not want to eat/drink anything due to just how bloated I felt.  Furthermore, and for the first time, I was seeing edema building up in my legs/ankles/feet.  Weakness, fatigue, and shortness of breath had also reared their ugly head.  I knew this wasn't good, and I even contemplated going to the ER, but I had a standing appointment with my Oncologist the very next morning so I figured I'd "tough it out" and wait to see what the doctor had to say.

Come Monday morning, I was very weak.  Given that there was no way I could safely drive in that condition, Holly had to take off more time from work in order to chauffeur me to my appointments.  It took everything I had to walk from the parking lot to the Doctor's office.  As normal protocol, STAT blood labs were collected so that the doctor could review those results during my appointment.  While walking to the patient exam room, I by chance caught the doctor and his nurses in the hallway and it was clear from their faces that I must be in bad shape.  They also noticed how I was struggling to breathe as I walked.  Having been informed by the lab that my pulse ox was very low, they quickly hooked me up to an oxygen tank.  A little more testing revealed that at rest, my pulse ox was nearly normal at 95%.  But once I exerted myself (i.e., got up and walked), it would drop to as low as 80%.  Any attempt to try to take a deep breath would result in me instantly coughing . . . sometimes productively.  These symptoms, combined with concern for my rapid weight gain and edema buildup in my legs/ankles/feet, where enough to have the doctor directly admit me to Northside Hospital under the presumption of pneumonia.

I stayed at Northside Hospital for about 3 days (Monday, March 18 - Wednesday, March 20).  During that time, a large number of tests/drugs were ordered.  Here are the key highlights:

• One round of Lasix (a diuretic) was ordered to help encourage my body to flush the 15 pounds of fluids I was carrying.  I was very hesitant about this, especially given that I have weak kidneys and did not want to chance renal failure, but this seemed to do the trick with expelling these fluids.
• IV antibiotics were ordered under the presumption of pneumonia.  Further testing, however, showed no signs of pneumonia.
• A CT-Scan of my chest revealed a partially deflated/pancaked lung.  It is believed that the fluid buildup caused this.
• I was ordered to do breathing exercises using a Voldyne 5000 Incentive Spirometer.  In time, this actually improved my lung volume considerably.

I was also diagnosed with Capillary Leak Syndrome, believed to have been brought on by my Yondelis treatment.  A key concern at this point is the impact this could have upon my kidneys, which were already hurting from the chemo I had 10 years ago.

Since my release from the Hospital on Wednesday, I have overall remained fairly weak.  Starting Thursday evening, I began feeling abdominal pain.  During "sleeping" hours, this pain would often become severe.  I was almost ready to wake up Holly and head to the ER when "miraculously" the pain just stopped.  Yup, come Friday morning I was feeling just fine, chipper in fact!  And because I felt so good, I never even bothered to call my doctor's office to report the issue.  It was over . . . or so I thought.  Friday night ended up being a repeat of Thursday night!  But once again, the pain was gone in the morning.  This time, however, I called the "on call" nurse who suggested that if the pain recurs again Saturday evening, I should immediately go to the ER.  Scanning my abdomen while the pain is active is the best way they are going to diagnose the issue.  There is apparently some thought that I could be experiencing Colitis (or something similar), brought on by Capillary Leak Syndrome.

Saturday night, however, I had no severe abdominal pain, so we made no ER trip.  As I write this post late Sunday afternoon, I find myself being weak and feel some more abdominal pain coming on.  And given that I have another Oncologist appointment scheduled for the morning, I'm again hesitant to go rushing off the the ER this evening.  That said, it would not surprise me one bit if I find myself back in the hospital starting tomorrow.

I'm sick of being sick!  I'm tired of Chemotherapy (this regimen at least).  I just want to start feeling normal again!