More complications

Earlier this week when I went to one of my radiation treatments I noticed that my left leg was feeling "funny." I can't quite distinguish whether it's a numb/tingly feeling, but it doesn't feel the same as my other leg. I mentioned this to the radiology resident on-call that that day and he spoke with my radiology doctor. They think it could have been from me going off the prednisone. I went off of it on my own without my doctor's consent, which I guess turns out is a ready bad thing to do because it increases my risk of a type of pneumonia caused by radiation. I'm now back on it. The "funny" feeling is still lingering however, so towards the end of the week they felt it might be necessary for me to get an MRI next week to rule out anything serious.

Friday after my treatment I also had to get my labs drawn, because my test from Monday showed that my platelets were low. I don't have the results yet, but I should get them Monday morning. If my platelets are below 50 they will have to stop my treatment for now until they go back up. The lab draw did not go as smoothly as usual however. My catheter would not draw blood and so they had to give me TPA (a drano type thing that takes away any clots in the catheter line). An hour later, the nurse tried to draw blood again and was successful. It was quite an ordeal and not the way I wanted to spend my Friday afternoon. That night I ended up getting some high fevers with major chills and this morning I also woke up with a fever feeling terrible. I think it may have been a reaction to the TPA, because the same thing happened the last time they had to give it to me.

I'm also starting to feel what I believe is a side effect of the radiation. The last two days my throat has been sore and it hurts when I swallow. I'm okay with drinking and soft foods, but anything else seems to hurt when it goes down. I knew this could potentially happen.