Roller Coaster ride this past week

Well, we have ridden the roller coaster this week and I knew there was a reason why I never cared for that ride. Rickie came home from the hospital on Thursday afternoon and we had an appointment with the radiation doctor Friday morning to discuss the options. Our son came along and that was a great help. The doctor again showed us the MRI and explained that all the little white dots we were seeing throughout the scan were cancer lesions, however they were not active at this time. The ones that were active were the ones in the left frontal lobe. He was urging us to begin radiation as soon as possible so that we might be able to kill off the active cancer cells before the others decided to join in. Rickie asked questions , was satisfied with the answers and decided to begin treatment that afternoon. He is scheduled for 10 treatments and returned on Sunday morning for a treatment and then everyday this past week as well. He will continue this coming week for 3 days also. He was also prescribed Cipro at this time for a possible urinary tract infection and we were told to continue with the dexamethasone for the inflammation in the brain. The first treatments seemed to go well, and other than being tired he seemed ok. However at night he would get restless and get up from bed many times and seemed somewhat confused. He was stilling dragging his leg and so had to use the walker. He was having trouble finding the words he wanted to say, and looked like he was in slow motion in everything he did. Monday when we saw the doctor he suggested increasing his fentanyl patch to 150 mg and giving him dilaudid when he was going to bed. He also mentioned “terminal anxiety” and prescribed Ativan for it. Monday night he slept all night, and by Tuesday morning his walking had improved greatly, but his behavior was a mess. He barely talked, seemed confused and was up constantly throughout the night. Wednesday after radiation he received hydration and seemed a little better during the day, but he still seemed in a stupor and would look at you with this weird staring look in his eyes. The doctor suggested giving him the dexamethasone earlier in the day as he said it can cause restlessness. During the night he got up and fell down beside the bed. My daughter and I got him up and he was hallucinating and saying weird things. When we tried to get him back into bed he became combative and tried to push us away. When he laid down to sleep his eyes rolled back in his head and he did not close them all the way. Needless to say I was a mess as well. I had not had a decent night’s sleep in a week and was extremely worried. I was beginning to think that maybe I had had my last conversation with Rickie, that maybe the radiation was causing him all this trouble. The strange thing was that he was getting stronger in his right leg and was walking better. Thursday while he received radiation I spoke with the doctor and told him what had been going on. He said maybe it was the increase in the pain meds that was causing the problem. He again received hydration and during the day the “fog” seemed to clear out. Thursday night he slept fairly well, and Friday morning he almost seemed like his old self. His staring was gone and he was actually talking sense. He again got hydration and radiation, and continued to improve throughout the day. I am beginning to think he might have had a reaction to the antibiotic Cipro. He finished it on Wednesday, and Thursday is when he started to turn around for the better. Every day he has improved and is almost back to walking without the walker. I also have not given him the Ativan as he says he does not need it. Has anyone else had this kind of reaction to Cipro? I know that many here have talked about the bad experiences with brain radiation, and I thought maybe that was what was causing it, but he had a treatment on Friday and his behavior was fine yesterday and today. We will see how next week goes. Hopefully the ride has come to an end, for now anyway.
I have gotten behind in reading everyone’s posts. There were 61 new ones when I opened it tonight! Please know that I keep everyone here on this site in my prayers. May everyone have a good night’s sleep!
Cheryl
Wife of Rickie, dx Stage IV EC, Oct. 2010