Monday, 8:30 PM
High-Level Journal Summary: An even worse day out of 3 chemo days. This journal was kindly written by my Mom, to help compensate for how badly I was feeling from my dual therapy.
Countdowns:
1.) Day 7 of 21 in Cycle 3 of Carboplatin + VP-16 chemotherapy.
2008 Seizure Activity:
1.) Last Simple Partial Seizure, or SPS, was 3 days ago.
2.) In 2008, I have had 61 SPS's in 133 days. This is an average of 1 SPS every 2.2 days.
Actual Journal: From my Mom:
The severe pain experienced last night was not caused by hunger, but rather by the effects of the Neulasta shot taken on Friday. This shot causes the bone marrow to go into high gear in the production of white blood cells. Severe pain is not uncommon as these white cells crowd in the bone marrow, causing extreme pressure and pain.
The pain was centered in the middle of my chest, and felt as if it penetrated through my body to my back. The sternum (breast bone) contains lots of marrow, and is frequently the site of bone pain. As the cells mature and are released into circulation, the pain decreases.
After a conversation with the nurse-supervisor, Anne-Marie, at the oncology practice, I learned that I could take up to 1,000 mg of Tylenol up to every 4 hours for pain. Vicodin or Percoset (other forms of relief) are also often prescribed for this bone pain.
As it happened, I had some Tylenol with Codeine on hand, and felt much better after taking this combination. Before, I was in so much pain that I was unable to stand up straight, or lie flat in the bed. Going forward into the next cycle, we will develop a pain relief plan, so I will never have the same level of pain after a Neulasta shot.
