Tests, Rehydration & New Meds

On Thursday I had an x-ray series of my abdomen, looking for a blockage, and turned in my stool sample kit. I learned fairly early that there were no red flags in the x-rays, but the cultures would take a bit longer. Thursday night was a turning point: could I make it till morning and try to get an appointment with my primary physician, or should we make the trip to the ER? After a week of feeling ill with no relief I was getting scared. I try to not let every new ache or pain have me think the worst (spread of cancer), but this was wearing me down. I could see and hear the worry in my hubby too. We decided to wait. (In hindsight, I need to lose my fear of the ER and go. They’ll get the tests done and get answers. Good advice I received was that the earlier you go in the day the better. We probably should have gone Wednesday morning.)

Beginning when the doctor’s office opened at 8:00am I called every two minutes until someone answered. I was able to get an 11:00am appointment. The physician assistant I saw was excellent. She had already viewed my x-rays and checked on the three stool tests – negative for c diff, and others were still pending. However, based on the white cell count, she didn’t expect any problems there. My blood pressure was normal but my pulse was elevated. She took my blood pressure again, first seated and then standing, because she suspected dehydration. After listening to my heart, lungs, and stomach, and pinching the skin on the back of my hand, she recommended that I get IV hydration and Zofran (anti-nausea med). She was going to have an ambulance pick me up and take me to the ER, but we asked if it was possible to have it done in the infusion room at the Cancer Institute – a place where we knew we’d feel more comfortable and where we knew the nurses. She coordinated with my oncologist’s PA and they made it happen – very grateful!

Kudos to the nurse who had to start an IV in dehydrated me! One stick and done! The fluid was cold, even with a heated blanket folded over my arm. Two hours later I was happy to sit in our sun-warmed car and head home. I was able to sit upright with less stomach discomfort already. I slept in our bed, actually slept!

This morning I was still tired but knew I had to get up to get some food in my stomach so I could begin a short course of prednisone. I started with Zofran, then drank an Ensure and ate two graham crackers, followed by the prednisone. Still feeling cold I snuggled on the recliner under a blanket and fell asleep. Around lunchtime I ate a small dish of Jello and drank some Gatorade. Mid-afternoon I had some soup. I still have no appetite at all, but I know I need to stabilize my weight and stay hydrated.

So, finally some improvement! I have a way to go to build up my strength (yet again!), develop an appetite, and lose the diarrhea, but today was a good start.

Yervoy Side Effects

From https://www.yervoy.com/side-Effects: “The most common side effects of YERVOY include tiredness, diarrhea, itching, rash, nausea, vomiting, headache, weight loss, fever, decreased appetite, and difficulty falling or staying asleep.” I’ve already had the itching and rash side effects, so I guess that left all the rest for after the 4th and final treatment. Luckily, knock on wood, I haven’t been vomiting. What I still have since Thursday night are tiredness, diarrhea, nausea, minor headaches that come and go, fever, decreased appetite (as in no appetite) with corresponding weight loss, and difficulty falling or staying asleep. I’m either sweaty or chilly, especially throughout the night, which might be fever-related?

Last night I pulled out Dr. Block’s book, Life Over Cancer, to search for some solutions. To offset the diarrhea, it suggests to drink lots of filtered water to stay hydrated. Sip small amounts of clear, room-temperature liquids throughout the day. To maintain the electrolyte balance, eat fish, bananas, and potatoes, as good sources of potassium, and crackers and pretzels because of their sodium content. Diarrhea-fighting foods include rice porridge, tapioca, barley broth, miso, and potato-based veggie soup. Some other foods that might help are white rice, cream of rice cereal, refined white flour products such as white bread and noodles, eggs (not fried), low-fiber veggies (peeled cucumber, peeled potato, peeled zucchini, mushrooms), and low-fiber fruit (applesauce, grapes, peeled peaches, bananas, mandarin oranges, tangerines, melons, mango, plums). Bananas and applesauce are the fruits of choice because they contain pectin. Eat small, frequent meals and snacks.

I am waiting for a callback from my oncologist’s nurse to see if there is anything else I can do to offset these side effects besides chewing a GasX tablet four times a day and taking Omeprazole. . . After a few back and forth messages, orders are now in for me to pick up a “kit” from the lab tomorrow to provide them with a stool sample, and to get an x-ray to rule out any blockage. In the meantime, I’m wondering if I might need a higher dose of my thyroid medicine (initially needed after taking Yervoy a few years ago). I’m going to message my oncologist now in case I could have blood taken while I’m there tomorrow. It’s time to get to the bottom of this so I can begin feeling better.