Last Week was a Roller Coaster

On Sunday afternoon, Doug whisked me off to Rush Medical Center Emergency Room where I spent the next 4 days with swelling in the lining of the brain.  I had a ocular migraine earlier that morning that went away without event.  I went to visit my parents and all was fine, but when I got home I was very tired and took a nap.  When I woke up, I was out of it.  Blank stare.  Trouble forming words.  Slow movement.  Doug thought I was having a stroke.  He called our oncology nurse, Irene, who said to take me to the ER at Rush.

I have never had such intense pain.  It hurt to blink my eyes, move my neck or any other part of my body.  I hurt from my forehead to my ears to the base of my spine.  I had no sensation in my left arm.  I just tried to lay perfectly still and bring my mind somewhere else.  My emotions were unstable and I wasn't myself.

I resisted an MRI with contrast because I felt panicked when I had one without contrast.  I also refused a epideral puncture to determine if the cause of the brain swelling was infection.  I ultimately had the contrast MRI and based on that and the fact that the steroids they gave me worked so quickly, they determined the cause of the swelling was cancer.

I am now on a high dose of Tarceva (700 mcg) once a week to keep the brain swelling down.  I also am continuing with maintenance chemo once every 3 weeks for the lungs.  I am slowly weaning off the steroids.

I feel back to normal, but it was a scary episode.  I hope to avoid any recurrences and just get on with living a normal life.

My Post on The Plum blog

My second submission to The Plum, an online magazine for the Women Survivors Alliance has been published on their site.  You can view the posting, The One Thing We Can Control,  by clicking on this link.  The gist of it is that no matter what life throws your way, you can choose how to deal with it to make the situation better or worse.

I hope you find it helpful.

Stability

Today I had a CT scan and my first maintenance chemo.  The CT showed no significant change from the prior one, which is considered to be a good result.

Maintenance chemo was basically the same as the treatment chemo, but a half an hour shorter since one of the chemo drugs is now eliminated. I also have fewer oral drugs to take post chemotherapy.

Next chemo session, along with an MRI of the brain, will be Monday, July 21.