Round Four was Interesting…

Today our Mom and I headed to Tucson for day one of round four.  On day one, she receives Gemzar and Cisplatin.  Because last month she wound up in the ER from dehydration, she focused on hydrating well the past two days to avoid a repeat occurance. 

Mom’s appointment went well.  Her CA-125 continues to drop, today it was at 111 so we know treatment has been working!  Dr. Chambers was concerned about the past dehydration issues so she ordered an extra bag of saline (two total) which she received before starting chemo.  After the saline,  received her Gemzar without incident and they started the Cisplatin.  After about receiving about a third of the bag, she went for a quick bathroom break.  When she came back, she sat down on the bed and started looking at her hands.  Her fingers were extremely swollen and her hands were turning red.  I did a double take when I looked at her.  Her face was also very swollen and turning red.  Then I noticed that she was having difficulty breathing. 

I quickly ran to get her nurse who followed me back to the room.  Mom was not okay.  At this point, she was having a very hard time breathing, was experiencing tremendous pressure in her chest, developed a wet cough, was on the verge on vomiting, was very swollen, and even more red.  Within seconds there was a number of nurses in the room – “the team,” a.k.a., the code team.  They paged Dr. Chambers, immediately removed her IV, took her oxygen sats, and gave her an EKG.  I was seriously expecting them to call 911 at any second, but Dr. Chambers showed up before that was necessary. 

When Dr. Chambers arrived, she was concerned that our Mom was experiencing flash pulmonary edema caused by a combination of the steriods and the fluids.  She was taken down for a chest x-ray and blood work was done. 

It took about an hour to get the results, during this time, Mom was starting to feel better and was able to rest and had stabilized for the most part.  When the results came back, we were relieved to learn she did not have a heart attack.  In fact, the chest x-ray was normal – we were happy there was no fluid in her lungs or any thing else of concern.  Dr. Chambers is not yet sure why she is having such difficulty absorbing fluids and what caused the reaction. We fully anticipate that Dr. Chambers will get to the bottom of this and our Mom will be back on track with chemo before her next scheduled appointment in two weeks. 

Once we were allowed to leave the Arizona Cancer Center, we drove home from Tucson and had the pleasure of entering an intense rain, wind, and dust storm on the I-10.  It was crazy!  Everyone local knows how dangerous those conditions on that road can be.  The fun really began when the windshield wipers broke.  Seriously!  At least the one the driver’s side was still working for the most part…unfortunately, I just couldn’t get it to go fast enough to actually provide decent visibility.  Thankfully, within a matter of ten minutes, the rain stopped and we were left with only the dust and wind.  Still no picnic, but a real improvement.  By the time we made it home, we were completely over the day’s excitement and grateful it was over. 

We will keep you posted as the hydration and antifalactic reaction mystery unfolds.

As always, thank you for your continued support of our Mom through her journey. 

– Michelle