Back-to-Back ER Visits
My first Chemo Rx appointment at Fred Hutch was 2/5/25. As you would expect from a premier cancer treatment facility, the visit went smooth. Each patient has a private infusion room: everything is clean and modern, as the clinical buildings are all relatively new. Recall that I have this central line IV port: the RN attached an IV to the port and proceeded to infuse each of the 4 drugs consecutively over varying periods of time specific to each drug. Each drug is prepared in a separate IV bag by the outpatient pharmacy with the dose very specific to the size and weight of the patient. If you have ever had a blood transfusion, the process is similar: two RN’s confirm my identity , the name of the drug, and the dose for each of the drugs. I was one-on-one with my nurse as he/she never leaves in case there might be a complication. The whole visit took about four hours. Diane was there the whole time and drove me home.
A list of potential complications for each of the drugs is long, and varies from nausea to cardiac arrest. During and after the infusion I didn't have any complications until last Thursday/Friday (days 8/9). I had severe fatigue and slept for most of those two days. Early Saturday morning I woke up with shaking chills and a fever of 102. The oncology physician on call wanted me to be seen at the ER in case I had an infection from an unexpected early drop in my white blood cell (WBC) count. We spent most of the day at the UW ER on Montlake. As it turned out, I didn’t have a low WBC; my fever and fatigue were from a new case of Covid. I was discharged on Pax/Lovid. Early the next morning, I was sitting on the upper step of ours stairs sending a text message. When I was done, I stood up abruptly and proceeded to have a syncopal episode; passed out, and fell down half a flight of stairs to the landing. I made such a loud commotion it woke up Diane. I hit my head and there was a large knot on my left temple that subsided to a big bruise mark over the day. That evening, I noticed if I moved my head too quickly that the room would spin and I diagnosed myself with a mild concussion. I related this my primary care doctor the next day, who then wanted me to go back to the ER. We spent much of Presidents Day in the emergency room at Overlake. The CT scan of my head was negative showing no bleeding or internal damage. As it all played out, the fatigue, fever, and syncopal episode were all due to Covid, which is good, because I have 11 more chemo treatment visits. The next chemo Rx is this week on Thursday 2/20.
