Whoa! I've Had a Reaction

Well, I had no reaction to the first two infusions of taxol.  This time, though, I began to have an ache in my lower back.  My face felt like it was getting hot.  I said something to Patty (my sister-in-law who was my driver/companion for the day) who told me my face was rapidly turning red.  I told her to go get help.  She and Nergiz came back, with Nergiz immediately stopping the infusion.  Another nurse came in with a bag of Benadryl, which would help bring things under control so that they could re-start the infusion. 

I didn't want to send Patty out to get our lunch until I knew we were set with things, as if I had a second reaction, then I was done for the day.  I would have to come back next week, and they would be using another drug, other than taxol.  Nergiz re-started the Taxol after the Benadryl bag emptied.  She kept a close eye on me for the first 10 minutes to be sure things were going to go better.  They did. 

I sent Patty on to get our lunch, since it appeared I would be able to stick this out to the end.  Because Benadryl could make me a bit sleepy, I had Patty get me items that would keep all right if I were dozing when she returned.

Patty and I did, as usual, end up laughing about this -- probably my room where I have my infusions is the only place where nurses hear the sound of laughter in that part of the building.  It seems that I have often not followed the "norm" on things.  A reaction to taxol tends to occur within the first ten minutes of the first infusion.  For me, it was the third.

Because I have one more round of taxol on July 16, the  nurses jotted down a few things in their notes that they planned to do to prevent a recurrence of something like this.  One thing they plan to do is up the initial Benadryl, giving me a small bag of it at the outset.   Their thought is that since the Benadryl did calm things down for me to continue, that the extra Benadryl at the start would keep a reaction from happening.

Next time is my last infusion.  I really do not want anything to delay my finishing chemo on time.  Dennis and I have plans for the end of the month to be out of town.  That planning hinged on my being past the chemo (and getting through the effects of it all right).