Elevation Sickness

After receiving two units of blood last week I've been feeling a little more energized. The two units definitely made me feel puffy and bloated for a couple of days which wasn't very pleasant. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that when I go back to get my blood tests next week my red count has gone up and I don't have to have any further tests to see why I've been so anemic.

Chris and I left for Mexico City on Saturday evening (I'm in Mexico now). It was a VERY long flight, leaving San Francisco at 9pm, arriving in Miami at 5am, leaving Miami at 7am, and arriving in Mexico City at 9am. The flight from SF to Miami was completely full and there was all kinds of drama going on. The second flight wasn't so bad, but there was a stinky person sitting in front of me so I was looking forward to the flight being over. As soon as we landed, I could already feel the elevation difference. I immediately noticed it was harder to breathe and my heart was beating faster. Chris also noticed his heart beating faster later that day and that evening my ankles were swollen and I had the worst headache. I've continued to have a headache since we got here, I'm hoping in the next day or so it will start to go away. Besides the elevation issues, we're having a pretty good time, mostly enjoying the food.

We return home this Saturday and I'll be back to my regular chemo schedule on Wednesday. Hope you all have a great Labor Day weekend!

A+ Blood Type

Chris and I spent six long hours at Stanford today getting my two units of blood. As usual it took a couple of hours to get the blood ready even though it was ordered last night and they had plenty of time to process it. I was out most of the six hours since I got a dose of Benadryl, poor Chris was the one awake bored to death. Maybe it would have been better if he got some Benadryl also :P

I found out that my blood type has officially changed to my donors'. My typing indicated that I'm now A+. That just seems so strange considering I've been O+ my whole life.

I also got the results of all the blood tests they ran yesterday to determine why my red count has been dropping...they were all normal. You would think this would be good news, but in reality it's not because we still don't know why my counts are dropping so much with the assistance of Procrit. Either I'm losing blood from somewhere or my bone marrow is not functioning properly. We're going to keep an eye on it the next two weeks and when I go back in it will be discussed further. If I've dropped again my oncologist is going to consult with my BMT doctor to see what could be going on. For now the two units of blood I received today should give me a little energy boost to make it through our trip in Mexico.

Very Anemic

Today I went in for my 11th round of Velban. I had my labs drawn, went to Stanford shopping mall to kill some time, then went back to see my doctor and get my treatment.

It turns out that my hematocrit and hemoglobin are very low and I will need two units of blood tomorrow. My nurse practioner was actually very surprised that I have been able to get out of bed, let alone function normally. With this low of a count I shouldn't have even been out driving. It definitely explains why I've been feeling so lousy and tired the past few weeks and haven't been able to do much walking/training. The main concern now is why I'm so anemic considering I've been getting weekly shots of Procrit to prevent this. Either I'm somehow losing large quatities of blood, my body is not producing sufficient blood, or something is causing it to deplete more than normal. I had several blood tests run this evening to try to help determine what could be causing this. I also had to go through an extensive cross-match typing since this will be the first time I receive a tranfussion since my donor transplant. The last time I was cross-matched I still had O+ blood (which I was born with), however my donor is A+ so we're assuming I have now converted. Tomorrow I will know for sure. I'm scheduled to be at Stanford tomorrow morning and it will take approximately 3-5 hours to get two units of blood...a long boring day it will be. I definitely have to have this taken care of before our trip to Mexico though cause it would be too risky to go there this deficient, especially considering the high elevation there.

Another issue with my blood today was that my potassium was well below normal. I have been taking postassium and magnessium supplements on a daily basis, but they believe with all the diahrrea I've been having from the laxatives I take my body is not absorbing any of the nutrients/supplements. This could actually also be attributing to the anemia since my body is not properly absorbing iron and iron is necessary for Procrit to work.

So just when I was starting to feel better and we planned a trip things start to go bad again. I just hope they can find a simple solution to the reason my red count has been dropping so much.

As far as my knees/body is concerned...I've pretty much stopped walking for now. I'm still continuing with physical therapy, the chiropractor, and massage therapy every week. I'm also taking a core strenghthening class twice a week to try and help. I haven't really seen any positive results from all of this so I'm getting very discouraged. Anytime I go down a flight of stairs or even a slight downhill I'm in extreme pain. Regardless whether I can continue training, I told Chris he needs to do the Nike 1/2 marathon so that I can have the finisher's Nike shirt and Tiffany medal!

Doctors, doctors, and more doctors

Just when I used to complain about being bored and having nothing to do all day, now I'm spending most of my days at doctor's appointments. Since my back/hips/knees have been bothering me I've started physical therapy three times a week and I'm also still going to the chiropractor and massage therapist. I now have to carry my calendar with me to be able to coordinate all the different appointments! My back/hips have actually felt much better, it's now my knees that are bothering me the most. I've been working on building up the muscles in my quads and hamstrings with a pilates machine as well as doing some weights and core strenghthening exercises. I'm still not sure if I will be able to continue training for the Nike marathon. I guess if I'm not able to do it maybe I will be able to do the Walt Disney World marathon in January. I would really like to do the "Goofy" event which is the 1/2 marathon on Saturday and the full marathon on Sunday.

Chris and I will be going to Mexico City to visit my family at the end of this month. We're both very excited, although one of the small challenges will be taking my Neupogen shots with me. I will have to carry three days worth of syringes on the plane, in a cooler (they have to be refrigerated), which I'm sure will be quite an experience. From what I understand I just have to carry a copy of the prescription from my doctor. I will be having chemo two days before we go, so I'm hoping I'll be feeling okay. My main concern is elevation sickness since I always seem to get it the day after I arrive.

Yahoo 360 Blog

For those of you who don't know, I have started another blog on Yahoo 360. I call this my "fun" blog because I don't talk at all about treatments, but rather about random thoughts/things that go on in my daily life. You can check out my Yahoo 360 blog at...

Erika's Yahoo 360 Blog

Also, my friend Abby and I who are both training for the Nike marathon through TNT are putting together a fundraiser Labor Day BBQ on September 4th. Anyone is invited, feel free to bring friends & family, but please do RSVP on the evite below so that we can estimate the right amount of food!

Labor Day BBQ Evite

Erika's Treatment Update -- Week 60

I had a pretty uneventful day at Stanford yesterday. As usual, I went in early to get my blood tests then saw my oncologist and afterwards had chemo. My counts all looked pretty good except for my red count which dropped significantly since two weeks ago. I did stop my Procrit shots for two weeks which probably contributed to the drop, I'll have to start again tonight.

I mentioned to my oncologist how my BMT doctor was considering doing the donor lymphocite infusions (DLI's) and she didn't seem all for it like he had. She thought it might be something to consider in the future, but not now. She's happy with the way my disease is responding to chemo and wouldn't want to stop it. My BMT doctor on the other hand doesn't think that the chemo alone is what is keeping my disease stable, he believes that it's a combination of the chemo and my donor cells. He will be out of town until the end of the month, but once he gets back I'm hoping we can all meet and discuss this further.

I also explained to my oncologist my frustration with all the back, hip, and now knee pain I've been having the past few weeks. My back and hips have been feeling better, however now my knees are really starting to bother me to the point where I can't walk for very long. She suggested that I start on some type of physical therapy program. I have a friend who has recommended some people so I will be contacting them and hopefully I can start doing that soon. Meanwhile, I think I'm going to have to put my marathon training on hold since I seem to be doing more damage everytime I go out and walk.

Erika's Treatment Update -- Week 59

Chris and I have fully recovered from the 1/2 marathon we did this past Sunday. My back has actually not been bothering me as much as I would have expected considering the excrutiating pain I was in during the event. I've been going to see a sports massage therapist all week, as well as doing some core strenghtening exercises, icing, and resting. I'm going to suggest being referred to a physical therapist when I see my oncologist next Wednesday so that we can speed up the healing process. I don't want to delay training for the Nike marathon coming up in October.

The last few days I've been feeling extremely exhausted. Instead of my usual going to bed at 1am and being awake from 3-6am, I've been taking several naps a day and falling asleep by 11pm. I started another round of prednisone tapering on Monday (20mg one day, 10mg the next, etc...) so I have a feeling that could be contributing to the exhaustion. I had a low grade fever this morning (I haven't had a fever not related to chemo in a long time), which I'm hoping is also being caused by the tapering. I've also been getting a lot of "hot flashes" during the day and minor night sweats at night which tends to happen when I taper (due to the hormonal changes). I'm hoping these symptoms subside, if not, I may have to stay on a 20mg dose indefinitely.

I'll be back at Stanford this coming Wednesday for my 10th round of Velban.