Short Stay at the Hospital

Wow, what a horrible week! Tuesday, after my radiation therapy, I went for a quick check in with my Chemo doc, who wanted to check out the redness around my port. It was almost a comical experience.

When getting checked in by the nurse, she took my temperature and asked how I was feeling. I felt totally fine. She then told me I had a fever of almost 104. So when the doc walked in, the first thing he said was "Well it looks like you're going to the hospital." We were shocked! Yes I had a fever but I felt totally fine. So we waited around at the doctor's office while they got me a bed a the hospital, then sent us over. It was really strange to walk into the hospital, feeling completely fine, and get checked in.

I was on the oncology floor, which lucky for us, had recently been remodeled, so the rooms were really large and super nice. At first it almost felt like a vacation. I just had to sit around all day. I could read books, do my stitching, watch TV, nap. But by the end of the first day it quickly turned into a torturous experience. The nurses were just ok. They would come in at least every 2 hours to check my vitals. Then my IV pump was constantly beeping, which drove me absolutely crazy! Then I'd also get visits from the Infectious Disease doctors, my Chemo doc, the phlebotomist, house keeping, some lady checking for bed sores, another asking about home health care, transport people to take me to radiation treatments, and the list could go on and on. Oh, and I could also hear the alarms and beeps from the other patients' rooms nearby. I could not get any sleep! I was literally on the edge of loosing my sanity. Just being there for 48 hours, made me feel more and more sick until I felt completely awful by the time my doc said I could go. He said that was a sign of being in the hospital for too long. I could have told him that!

Luckily all my blood test came back negative for a Pseudomonas infection. I guess the infection stayed in forearm incision and didnt get into my blood and the high fever was attributed to chemo treatments. It is really rare that chemo causes a fever, so we will try chemo again next Friday and see if this happens all over again. If so, I'll have to switch to traditional chemo, which will cause hair loss, and nausea. Something I really really dont want to have to do.

It's hard enough dealing with having cancer, but then to have to loose all your hair...well, it is a lot harder of an experience than most people can imagine. And the nausea. My throat is getting more and more sore by the day, and to add stomach acid burning my throat, well that is just something I really dont want to have to add to the mix. Pray that this was a fluke and I wont have a reaction with my next round of chemo and I wont have to switch.