The calm before the storm

That's what that nap was. We all knew the chemo was going to have side effects, but so far they have been pretty mild (in my opinion anyway). Today Summer had what I guess you would call a neurological side effect. Ifosmafide has the possibility of causing dizziness, agitation, confusion, and seizures, although these are the less common side effects of the drug.

Summer was sleeping beside me on the bed and I was talking to our preacher. She woke up around 11:45 a.m. and started crying. I leaned over trying to calm her, but it got progressively worse. I put her in my lap where she continued to cry and writhe and twitch. I couldn't soothe her and she wasn't responding to me in a coherent way. The nurse came in and then went to fetch the doctor. A team of people came in to help. The doctor thought it was a side effect of the Ifosmafide rather than the Etopiside which was being pumped into her at the time the "storm" happened. So, they took some blood to run labs and gave her some Benadryl to help calm her. She calmed a little and they left. Then I realized she had peed on me and the bed so I had to get her to the bathroom so she could finish in the potty. The preacher ended up helping me get her there not sure what to do, but willing to help. I am so glad he was here. She was a jumble of wires since she had two machines hooked up to her. But, I got her on the potty where I convinced her to finish all the while she was still upset and not back her to "normal" sleepy self. My mom walked in just after we finished getting her clothes back on her and the bed changed (thankfully they sent someone in to this for me). I gave her to my mom who apparently has the magic touch and she calmed down and drifted into a somewhat peaceful state. After getting the okay to go ahead and take my break, I left Summer in my mom's arms. What in the world would I do without her? Without either one of them????

Anyway, it was a pretty scary time, but we made it through it and she has been resting peacefully since then. She has peed on herself 3 times today, once on me and once on my mom. Thankfully we both had extra clothes to change into too. The labs came back and everything looked pretty good, nothing too alarming anyway. They decided she just had toxicity from chemo (or something like that). Tomorrow I think they are going to reverse the order of the drugs. I'm not sure what that will change, but I hope we don't have another episode like today. It was no fun, but like I've said before, it could've been worse. I'm glad the storm blew over relatively quickly 30-45 minutes, but I sure hope we don't get anymore tomorrow or today for that matter.

I'm exhausted so I think I'm going to go snuggle in bed with Summer. Hopefully the rest of the day will be uneventful. One more day of chemo this week and we are through until next Tuesday. Yeah!!! I can't wait for Saturday because we should be going home. Oh to sleep in my own bed again....