ER trip and ICU stay

I'm not so sure how I went down hill so quickly, but I did.  My first round of chemo was so easy, but round 2 literally knocked me off my feet.

It was a radiation week and I wasn't feeling well.  Just really tired, throwing up constantly, and my throat was sore.  I wasn't sleeping well because I was having trouble breathing and was drooling all over in my sleep (like you would during a chest cold or severe allergies).  One night I woke up and took my temp and it was 103.  I thought my thermometer was wrong.  My throat was super sore and I hadn't had much to eat that day because of it.

The next morning I had radiation and was going to be checked up at the infusion center.  As soon as the nurse took my temp she yelled for a wheel chair and I was whisked off to a consultation room where I was told by a very concerned RN that I needed to get to the ER right away.

We went downtown to Rush, since so many of my doctors are there.  I tried taking Tylenol to bring my temp down, but the pill wouldn't go down.  I was given liquid meds instead.  The docs admitted me and I was taken to a normal hospital room.  After meeting with the ENT team and seeing how awful everything was in my mouth/throat area, I had to go to the ICU.

I ended up in the hospital for a week and everything got so infected and irritated that I couldn't speak, drink, or eat.  My team of docs said everything that could hit, hit.  The "perfect storm" they called it.  My white blood cell count was at .05 (when it should be between a 4 and 10).  I had neutropenic fever, thrush, epiglottitis, stridor, esophagitis, and who knows what else.

It's been over a week and I'm still recovering.  I can't eat or drink much.  I've lost 16 pounds.  I can't be standing for long or I get dizzy and throw up.  If I sit on the floor, I need help up.  I need help stepping up the stoop to our house.  Every morning I'm extremely nauseous and dry heave until I sit down to eat.

Because of all of this, my doctors agree that radiation and chemo together are just too much.  So I would have been totally done with treatment on July 1, now it's going to be pretty delayed.  I am finishing up radiation, and then I will meet with my oncologist July 6 to discuss starting chemo again.

Good news is the mass on my kidney has not changed, so surgery for the removal can wait.

I appreciate all the prayers I have been receiving, plus the cards and gift packages.  Special thanks to my brother and sister in law for taking Emily for a whole WEEK while I was in the hospital.  So lucky to have them near us!