So things have been rolling along. I am getting used to my Xeloda side effects which are turing out to be quite predictible each week. So much so that I know this coming Tuesday afternoon I will get a mouth sore on my bottom right gum. I will have to chew on the other side of my mouth until Thursday afternoon when it disappears. Strange, but true!
We took the boys to the drive-in theater last weekend to see Cars 2, I have been trying to arrange my schedule so we can do bible school in two weeks, we have been working the Thursday night concerts, and swimming in our neighbors pool. Other than a few projects around the house, we have been taking it slow and thinking about what kind of activities the boys want to participate in this fall.
On Wednesday I was driving home from work when it felt like I got stung on the top of my thigh. I looked down and didn't see anything. It happened one more time on the way home from work and I made a mental note to check it when I got home. I thought maybe there was a pin in my shorts or something. When I got home I forgot to check. This happened again on Thursday morning in the same place, but I didn't think much of it until lunchtime.
I was on my way down the hall at work when a shooting pain went through my right thigh and almost dropped me to the floor. I felt like I was being stung by a 1000 bees and my skin was on fire. I looked down expecting to see a giant expanding bruise, but there was nothing. I shook it off enough to make it back to the seat in my office. I called my sister-in-law to describe my pain. After listening to me for a few minutes she said it sounded like meralgia paresthetica. Huh? She said she was going to look at something and in 5 minutes I had an email with information about this condition. She is going to make one heck of a doctor because she was spot on!
I have had some pain and this ranks up there pretty high. It is like having a pinched nerve that just won't go away with sudden knife like stabs, burning and then stinging. Thanks to Aly who following me around with my office chair and her mom (a nurse) who urged me to get it checked out, we ended up in the Emergency Room about 3pm yesterday afternoon. Aly was a trooper. I know that it must be hard to see a friend in so much pain, but she and the folks in the office hung in there with me and got me where I needed to be. Aly even stayed until Brad could get there and then she covered the concert last night. Thankfully the boys were with Cindy and Glen and they kept them all evening and had a sleep over.
So, here is the deal on this one. A CT of my head revealed that it is looking good! Yeah! All my other lesions in my body are either the same or smaller than my last CT in April. Yeah! Except, there seems to be just the tiniest bit of growth of a lesion on a vertebrate in my lumbar spine. I was aware it was there, but at this point they just can't treat everything until a problem arises. This lesion is very close to where the lateral femoral nerve leaves the spinal column and goes to the leg, giving your leg feeling and the capability to communicate with your brain. Somehow this lesion is hitting the nerve causing the pain and now numbness in my right thigh. Funny thing is that this is my 'good leg' and hasn't had all the trauma of my left leg (femoral rod, blood clot, lots of radiation.) Anyway, as long as I am sitting I am fine. Sometime I can walk a little and it is fine, but then it hits and it is rough!
Luckily the emergency room doctor was very thorough and talked to the oncologists at Hopkins and then called my radiation oncologist, Dr.K. Dr. K spoke to me at the ER last night and told me to be in his office at 8am this morning for radiation set up! He knows me...he knows I like to move FAST!
What does all of this mean? Well, I am on steriods and some pain meds. Although I am not a fan of steriods, they are making me VERY hungry and it feels so good to be hungry! (Someone remind me of this when my face gets fat again!) So far they seem to take the edge off the pain, but I am still doing a lot of sitting. This morning they set me up for yet another round of radiation to get that spot on my lumbar vertebrae. I start Monday morning and will continue for 10 treatments. I have a scheduled appointment at Hopkins on Wednesday so I will take my scans and get my bloodwork for that. Dr. K promises to have me back to work next week!
Brad and I left the ER last night around 8:45pm and went to get my perscriptions filled. While we were waiting we went to Dairy Queen to get a little snack. We started discussing the timing of this sudden change. At least we weren't at the beach, at least the kids don't have school, at least all the activities are done right now, at least it wasn't Relay for Life weekend or someone's birthday weekend, at least we didn't have big plans this weekend, at least I don't have a fractured pelvis AND a brian tumor this time! I said a big thank you prayer last night that it is something they can fix and not a neurological issue. But I do wish we could have a date night that doesn't start with, "after they let Toni leave the hospital!" LOL! As Ian says...no worries mom!
Please note that this was written by me...on steriods. Please excuse any typos, or missing words, etc.
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