Dear Dr. Lange, Please excuse Jean from treatment this week.

She’s tired and cranky and not so fun to live with these days. Plus she’s been going to the bathroom a LOT and her skin looks flakey and irritated and she is scaring little children.

Sincerely,
Everyone she sees and comes into contact with on a daily basis

I got excused from treatment this week and I’d like to say it’s because I was such a good patient the past 4 weeks that they decided I could have some time off. However, the reality is that I showed up on Wednesday looking and feeling miserable and I don’t bother to hide things from these nurses – they always figure out the truth anyway. Turns out I was dehydrated and my potassium level was low so they gave me a nice saline IV told me to eat some bananas and sent me home. I got next week off as well, but that’s because I have my long awaited stent removal scheduled for Monday and it’s my unwritten rule to have only 1 procedure done per week. So my next Erbitux treatment is scheduled for Feb 14 – Happy Valentine’s Day and happy anniversary as this will also mark 1 year since I began this affair with Erbitux and the staff of Wyman 3.

The reason I was so miserable this week on treatment day was because of my visit with the podiatrist earlier in the week. Turns out I don’t have an ingrown toenail (yay!) instead I have an infected toe (boo!). The toe that he removed part of the nail from in October somehow became infected 3 months later. It was fine for the past 3 months, it really only got painful and red in the past 2 weeks. I called for an appointment as soon as it acted up. Right now the plan is 5 days of antibiotics, soak in Epsom salt every day and cover with iodine and a band aid for 2 weeks. If it doesn’t clear up, go back. It’s been 5 days. Almost done with the antibiotics (which have caused my diarrhea to increase back to almost double digits per day –not fun, and the reason I was dehydrated on Wednesday), and still doing the soaking, but its not feeling better. I’m hoping for a best case scenario here, but if this doesn’t work we are going to have to arrange to have the toenail removed (ewww….no strappy pink sandals for me this summer!!). I’ll keep you posted – even if you don’t want to know.

The second reason I got excused from the Erbitux was that I looked pretty beat up. The rash is back on my face and the dry skin has returned with a vengeance. I’m pouring on moisturizer as much as possible, but my skin just sucks it up and asks for more. On top of this, the itchiness has returned – mostly at night. I decided to outsmart it and wear gloves to bed so I couldn’t scratch. Well apparently I’ve figured out how to take the gloves off, scratch the itch, and then put the gloves back on all without waking up. My face currently looks like I got attacked by a very angry kitty. Instead I have to tell people that I did this to myself, in my sleep. Tonight we are going to try taping the gloves on so I can’t get them off. Somehow I think I’ll figure out a way around this.

The good news is that the stent removal is officially scheduled for Monday February 6. This time it’s coming out for good – no waking up to find a larger stent in place. The current plan is to remove the stent as a day procedure in the OR (so I’ll be asleep) and this will also allow Dr. Karian some time to inject a dye, see if the constriction has loosened up at all, and get a better idea of what the next step will be. We decided not to talk about this until we had seen what this stent had managed to do. I should be home by late Monday afternoon – armed with more antibiotics and pain meds.

Hopefully Monday will be my only day at Mt. Auburn next week. I’m looking forward to a little time away and some return to the daily grind of work.

Last weekend was a good escape for both Pat and I. We spent some relaxing time on the Cape – walking the beach and just clearing our heads and minds from all this stuff. I chowed down on a lobster without too many consequences and enjoyed some time next to the fireplace sipping champagne. It was good for both of us to get away from the daily pressures and trips to the hospital. We’re still trying to figure out how we can go on with our lives when we feel like we are constantly in limbo. I’m really hoping for a resolution to this kidney issue sooner rather than later – it’s hard to make plans when we’re not sure if I’m going to be able to travel over the next month. We’re back to taking this day by day - and this weekend looks to be a good one for chilling out at home with a good book and my Tivo.

Posted by jean at February 3, 2006 04:00 PM