Autologous Transplant, Days -3, -2 and -1

The day of my actual transplant (tomorrow) is considered "Day 0" so the three days leading up to it are Days -3, -2 and -1.

Tuesday, February 19: Day -3
I got settled into my room and hung out with Noelle for the day. I took some time getting the staff up to date on the levels of meds I've been taking and the schedule I've been on. For example, I have a medicine I've been taking for my neuropathy that has to be ramped up at the rate of one pill every three days until relief is found. I had gotten up to two in the morning, two in the afternoon and three in the evening. My PA, Dan, explained to me on Tuesday that that medicine works best when all three doses are the same quantity, He has remedied that situation for me. The problem is, they can make you sleepy until your body adjusts to the new dosage. And, he decided to up my dosage by two pills a day right away as opposed to one and then another 3 days later. I've been feeling it today in particular. My chemo began at around 4:00 on Tuesday. It's about a 20 minute IV drip, and it's been found that sucking on ice or popsicles for about 5 minutes before the chemo, all during it, and for about 30 minutes after reduces the chances for GI tract sores, which has been my greatest concern with this chemo. Bad sores in my mouth and throat, stomach, intestines...the whole shebang  The reason the cold stuff can help reduce the chances for sores is because the cold causes the cells in the mouth to close up a bit so the chemo med can't soak into them as much. Anyway, I went through 3 Italian ice cups, 2 popsicles, an ice cream cup and some ice pellets. By the time those 55 minutes were over, I was sick to my stomach with all the sugar and ice, and vowed to come up with a different plan for the following day. Other than that, the day was pretty uneventful.

Wednesday, February 20: Day -2
Hiccups. Lots and lots of hiccups. One of the meds they're giving me is a steroid called Dexamethazone (or "Dex). It was a part of the 4 cycles of chemo I did from October to January, and it almost always gave me hiccups in the evening, after having taken them in the morning. Well, I got the Dex on Tuesday afternoon, and the hiccups began at around 10:20 in the morning on Wednesday. I asked for Baclofen, a pill that has helped to get my hiccups to subside a little in the past. Well, this time it didn't work. Maybe it's because they gave me the Dex in liquid form in stead of the solid form I would take at home. Maybe it was a larger dosage. Maybe it's because it's been a month and a half since I last had any Dex in my system. Whatever the cause, the hiccups stayed with me for 5 or 6 hours! Crazy! That's a record for me. I think the longest bout I've ever had was about an hour, so this was pretty crazy. They ended up giving me a different med for my hiccups called Thorazine (I think). That helped. Also, I met with Dr. Miller Wednesday. He specialized in rehab and has prescribed a new medicine to help me with my neuropathy, in conjunction with the med I've been taking since January. I've already gotten some good results from it, which I'm VERY excited about. Here's hoping it continues to help, because he explained to me that damaged nerves heal at the rate of about one inch per month. Of course, my feet are further away from my spine, which is where the regeneration and healing of the nerves begin. He figures it'll take about 2 years or so for the healing to reach my feet. Like I said, here's hoping the new medicine continues to help. I got more chemo at 4:00, and put down a Jamba Juice Noelle had picked up for me on her way in expressly for that purpose. So, Jamba Juice, one popsicle, and grape juice poured over ice pellets. Still a lot of sugar like the day before, but not as sugary, and still cold enough to help...we hope. A dietitian met with us yesterday as well. She's asked me to consume at least 2200 calories a day with a lot of protein. That's a tall order, when I have a bad sense of taste and not much of an appetite. Also, a bit of nausea set in yesterday, making it all the more difficult to get up the gumption to eat. It settled down, though, and Noelle and I were able to play a game of cribbage before she left for the day. Overall, it was an OK day, untill...

Thursday, February 21: Day -1
After getting to sleep some time around midnight, I woke up at 3:05 and had to pee. They also draw blood for labs every morning between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. (I know...what an AWFUL time choice, huh?), so I figured that I would call my nurses (one LDSH employee and one nursing student from Utah State University) in to get that taken care of while I was awake. So after peeing, I came beck to lay back down. As soon as I sat down on the edge of my bed, I knew I was in trouble. I went right back to the bathroom and threw up. I hate throwing up...with an absolute passion. Granted, I don't know of anyone who really enjoys it, but I hate, hate, HATE IT! And this was awful. So, I get back to bed and call the nurses' station to let them know I wanted my blood drawn and some anti-nausea medicine that they could shoot into the tube running into my central line. They came, they did what I had requested, and left. I sipped from my water pitcher for a while, and then out of the blue, I felt another wave come over me. I ran the four feet to the bathroom and still made a mess of it...didn't quite get to the toilet in time to keep the floor clean. after I was done, they brought in housekeeping to clean up for me. What a horrible job! I can only imagine the messes they have to clean up around a hospital. This morning, after waking up around 8 a.m., I threw up again. Yes, it was a tough morning. They've loaded me up with a lot of anti-nausea meds today, and I've been able to eat a bit, but not a ton. Noelle and I played Skip-Bo (why the heck would they choose that name for a game? I mean, really, what the heck is "Skip-Bo" even supposed to mean?) I won, not that it matters. We also watched the first three episodes of season 1 of LOST. It's been a long time since we've watched it, so it's good to get to know the characters again. It's definitely one of our all-time favorite shows we've watched together. Mad About You, Chuck and Modern Family are others. Anyway, I'm really tired from the combination of meds they've given me for the nausea, so I'm going to wrap this up. I'm going to try to blog more regularly while I'm here in the hospital, as the days tend to run into each other and the lines get blurred.