Mearrik and Me: Break

Mearrik and Me: Break: "No treatment this week. I've been having trouble tolerating the side effects of the treatment since starting on maintenance. The docto..."

Break

No treatment this week.

I've been having trouble tolerating the side effects of the treatment since starting on maintenance. The doctors prescribed something for pain relief (percocets) which seem to be working for the pain, but have side effects of their own. I had a couple of nights with excruciating abdominal pain and vomiting lasting several hours; both nights I had used the percs for side effects. I thought that taking them on an empty stomach might have been the issue, so on Friday night I made sure I took them with food and I didn't have any problems that night. Problem solved, I thought.

Monday I had appointments at the hospital; 8 am for bloodwork and 9:30 with my oncologist. Routine stuff. I woke up at 6 am with steadily worsening abdominal pain and vomiting. By 7 am I knew I would not be able to drive myself to the hospital, so I called my dad who came right away and took me. By the time I got to the hospital I was in rough shape and they took me up to the cancer clinic in a wheelchair and right up to a bed.

I ended up spending the day there having all kinds of tests (THREE blood draws, and they had to poke me a total of 6 times because my veins kept collapsing - told you I have crappy veins; EKG, urinalysis, and a bunch of xrays that took forever) and got some IV hydration (another poke) and in the end they still could not determine what was causing the pain. Eventually they gave me - can you guess? - percocet for the pain! It worked, though the pain went on for a full 24 hours before subsiding.

They *think* that the problem is acid building up in my stomach which is causing the pain. The interferon causes my stomach to empty much slower than usual, which causes nausea, but its unclear if the abdominal pain is related. The doctor prescribed yet another med to treat the stomach issues. Its kind of funny when you think of it: taking one med for side effects that are caused by another med that is being used to treat side effects of yet another drug! Or maybe its not so funny...

Anyways, until we get the abdominal issues resolved, no treatment. I don't mind the break.

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