Rough week

winsomebulldog

Wow, the past few days have been BAD! I finished 4 courses of A/C almost 2 weeks ago & honestly, I thought the worst was over. I've got 4 courses of Taxotere coming, + rads & a year of Herceptin. I figured the A/C was the worst of all & if I got through that it would pretty much be downhill from there. Compared to what some of you have gone through with the A/C, it wasn't even that bad for me. The worst side effects I had were from the Neulasta. But I never considered how bad it would be if I got an infection.

Last weekend I woke up with a toothache. I grind my teeth & usually wear a mouth guard, but I'd fallen asleep on the couch & didn't have it in. So I figured it was due to the teeth grinding/jaw clenching. It didn't get better, though. It just kept getting worse. Monday morning I had an appointment to get a CT scan & I was flat out miserable. I started taking hydrocodone leftover from my surgery, but it barely touched the pain. That afternoon I called my dentist (& my OC) & was put on antibiotics. By the next day the left side of my face was so swollen that my eye on that side wouldn't open all the way. The pain was horrible. On Wed I stopped in at my OC's office & they took one look at me & put me in a room until he could see me. So, he prescribes a second antibiotic to take WITH the other one, plus oxycontin for the pain. I picked up the new meds, took the new antibiotic then & went home to rest. 3 or 4 hours later I woke up with hives on my head. One on my waist, but the rest on my head. I was napping with one of my dogs & hubby & I thought that's what caused it because I used to be allergic to dogs. Took shots for years & finally tested as not allergic anymore. But with the chemo, we figured that might have changed. Anyway, last night my fever started climbing. The Tylenol in the hydrocodone was probably masking it. When I switched to the oxycontin, it suddenly popped up. Hubby was ready to take me to the ER, but it stopped just shy of 101, then started to come back down slowly. When I woke up this morning it was gone completely & it was the 1st time I wasn't in real pain in days. I was so relieved. Then I took the second Levoquin tablet at noon & half an hour later the hives were back with a vengeance. Still mostly on my head (what's up with that?!) but a few elsewhere as well. Worse than yesterday for sure. At least it wasn't my dog! LOL

Called the Dr. & he's now moved on to something else. This one is a "sulfa" based antibiotic. I'm still taking the original one my dentist prescribed & won't take the new one till tomorrow since the Levoquin is a 24hr thing & having 3 different antibiotics in me at once seems a little risky. I'll take the new stuff when I am due for the next Levoquin.

Anyway, I'm feeling indescribably better tonight than I have for the past 5 days, but it's been a rough road to get here. If I never have pain like that again I'll count myself blessed! On the upside, I lost some weight since I couldn't eat. LOL Still can't eat like normal, & still a little swollen & sore, but way better than before. Hubby said I looked like a hamster packing for the winter.

Sorry this is so long. I just wanted to warn everyone out there to not wait a single day if you think you might have any kind of issue. If I'd called my dentist when I was first hurting maybe we could have headed the infection off before it got so far. At least I've turned the corner. Thank God for modern meds!

Blessings to all,

Jenn

Heatherbelle

Oh my gosh Jenn that sounds
Oh my gosh Jenn that sounds horrible! It sound like you're getting around to feeling better now, i'm very glad to hear that. And tooth pain is just the worst - there's so little that can be done for it until it's actually taken care of at the dentist. I hope you continue to get feeling better!
*hugs*
heather

Jean 0609

Hi Jenn,
I am so sorry that you have been having problems. However, I am glad to hear that you are feeling better. I agree, call the doctor...that's why we pay them mega bucks. Hope you are feeling better to enjoy this nice fall weekend. Hugs, Jean

MyTurnNow

Jenn, I, too, had some
Jenn, I, too, had some dental problems during my chemo. I actually had to have a tooth pulled and one area of my gum lanced on the other side of my mouth. I know our bodies are susceptible to illness/infections during chemo and I found out the hard way, as did you. I'm glad that you are beginning to feel better and they found the correct combination for your antibiotics. Good luck and let us know how you are doing. Take care.

Gabe N Abby Mom

I hope everything gets
I hope everything gets better for you soon. I'll be sending thoughts and prayers your way!

Hugs,

Linda

VickiSam

MyTurnNow said:

Jenn, I, too, had some
Jenn, I, too, had some dental problems during my chemo. I actually had to have a tooth pulled and one area of my gum lanced on the other side of my mouth. I know our bodies are susceptible to illness/infections during chemo and I found out the hard way, as did you. I'm glad that you are beginning to feel better and they found the correct combination for your antibiotics. Good luck and let us know how you are doing. Take care.

Jenn .. I'm am sorry to say that I am right there with
My Turn Now .. endured weeks of pain .. actually had my dentist work on me WITHOUT numbing medication .. terrible, unforgettable pain and suffering -- My Onc recommended against any and all dental treatment - cleaning, fills . etc. As I recall it took several weeks to fix 1 tooth .. awwwwh - good times! 1 of the worst experiences EVER -- just the air or water while the dentist drilled .. would have me jumping up in the chair ..


Vicki Sam

carkris

Gabe N Abby Mom said:

I hope everything gets
I hope everything gets better for you soon. I'll be sending thoughts and prayers your way!

Hugs,

Linda

glad its getting better,
glad its getting better, sounds awful! hope the taxotere goes well

padee6339

So Sorry
But I'm glad its getting better. I had to have 2 teeth pulled right after I finished chemo. The dentist said he didn't like to do it then, but we had no choice. I hope you just keep feeling betterer and betterer all the time.
Hugs - Pat

cahjah75

Jenn
although it was quite the rollercoaster ride I'm glad you are finally on top of the pain. Now the real question is what do they think caused it in the first place?
{{hugs}} Char

smalldoggroomer

Oh Jenn you poor girl, I'm
Oh Jenn you poor girl, I'm so sorry this happened to you. I hope you are feeling better now. I bet your a cute hamster Take care Kay,

aysemari

ASK your doctor
Hi Jenn,

first off so sorry you had to go through hell there for a while, and
it's good to have you back.

Please check with your doctor to see if it is ok for you to take some
Probiotics with the antibiotics. I was on antibiotics for moths at a time
and no one told me about probiotics.

While anitiobits kill bacteria they also harm good bacteria and this
really diminishes your immune system. I felt so amazing when I learned
about them and started taking them.

Ayse

ms.sunshine

aysemari said:

ASK your doctor
Hi Jenn,

first off so sorry you had to go through hell there for a while, and
it's good to have you back.

Please check with your doctor to see if it is ok for you to take some
Probiotics with the antibiotics. I was on antibiotics for moths at a time
and no one told me about probiotics.

While anitiobits kill bacteria they also harm good bacteria and this
really diminishes your immune system. I felt so amazing when I learned
about them and started taking them.

Ayse

When it rains it pours
Hate you had to go thru the pain. Tooth pain is one of the worse pains. Glad to hear you are better, and the dog can continue sleeping with you and hubby.

winsomebulldog

Thanks for all the kind thoughts & well wishes!
Still getting better. My jaw is a little sore still, but nothing serious. At least the new antibiotic seems to be working out fine. No new hives! LOL

They think it might be an issue with a tooth that was already worked on before. But I remembered that I actually bit my jaw recently & I'm wondering if that might have had something to do with it. I'll mention it to my oc when I see him later this week.

I'm sure hoping we can keep this thing under control so I can get on with my next chemo course. A delay is the absolute LAST thing I want to face.

Again, thanks for listening to my sob story. The first day I woke up with no pain I was so happy & excited that I felt like dancing. I didn't because I can't. LOL but I felt like it!

Blessings!

Jenn

winsomebulldog

VickiSam said:

Jenn .. I'm am sorry to say that I am right there with
My Turn Now .. endured weeks of pain .. actually had my dentist work on me WITHOUT numbing medication .. terrible, unforgettable pain and suffering -- My Onc recommended against any and all dental treatment - cleaning, fills . etc. As I recall it took several weeks to fix 1 tooth .. awwwwh - good times! 1 of the worst experiences EVER -- just the air or water while the dentist drilled .. would have me jumping up in the chair ..


Vicki Sam

OMG!!!
I could NOT do this! I hate having dental work done anyway. (Had a real bad experience with a root canal as a kid.) There is just no way I could endure having my teeth worked on without them being numb or unconscious! You must be one TOUGH lady!

Reminds me of that movie "The Marathon Man" with Dustin Hoffman! TORTURE!!! Yikes!

winsomebulldog

ms.sunshine said:

When it rains it pours
Hate you had to go thru the pain. Tooth pain is one of the worse pains. Glad to hear you are better, and the dog can continue sleeping with you and hubby.

LOL
There's really not room for all 3 of us at the same time. Mostly because Katie is the WORST bed hog! And she KICKS. LOL

That's her in my profile pic & that's how she likes to sleep. Feet stuck out as far as they'll reach. Not really enough room for us all when she does that.

I am glad that my allergies weren't the problem, though, as hell would freeze over before I got rid of my babies!

winsomebulldog

ms.sunshine said:

When it rains it pours
Hate you had to go thru the pain. Tooth pain is one of the worse pains. Glad to hear you are better, and the dog can continue sleeping with you and hubby.

LOL
There's really not room for all 3 of us at the same time. Mostly because Katie is the WORST bed hog! And she KICKS. LOL

That's her in my profile pic & that's how she likes to sleep. Feet stuck out as far as they'll reach. Not really enough room for us all when she does that.

I am glad that my allergies weren't the problem, though, as hell would freeze over before I got rid of my babies!