About the ER Trip...
I've gotten a lot of questions about what led up to my emergency room visit this past week, so I thought I'd elaborate a little.
The best guess for my condition was made by the ER doc - some sort of extended hyperventilation. Evidentially, you can hyperventilate for long periods of time, even subconsciously in your sleep, and effectively create inflammation in your chest to the point where it's very hard to breathe.
Some of my other doctors and nurses disagree with this idea, but nobody can give me a better explanation.
This extended stress response lasted for about 4 days leading up to my ER visit, and a whole bunch of other stress-related responses occurred during these 4 days too. I had horrible night-sweats one night - to the point where I thought i was having a nightmare - I was so soaked with sweat that when i dabbed my head with TP, it fell apart in my hand. I also broke out in pimples all over my head, chest, and back - initially I thought these were hives, then pimples from the night sweat episode, but I'm pretty sure they are a seperate response, since they aren't on my legs or arms. They are going away slowly, but they are still all over me. The worst stress response was that I felt absolutely out of body - as in I had extreme sensory perception problems.
I've told a few of you about this, but one day I actually had to turn around in the shower to make sure that it was still on - I couldn't feel the water. My hearing had an echo to it, and it was hypersensitive. I've since lost the echo, but my sense of smell and hearing have improved dramatically since I started chemo. Some of you have suggested that the smell is due to me quitting smoking, however I've quit smoking dozens of times and this increase in my ability to smell is definitely greater than normal. I was incredibly tired all the time - so much so, that I couldn't move around the house for more than a few hours before I had to lay back down and rest. At the time, I thought this was the normal fatigue related to the chemo, and I was very very scared about feeling this way for 3 months - in fact, I doubted that I would be able to do it - even as dedicated to this as I am.
This sensory perception problem was more likely an anxiety response than a drug side-effect. After treatment at the ER, all of that disappeared and I feel GREAT now, as many of you witnessed this weekend. I'm very thankful that it's over - it was the worst I've ever felt in my life - just a very sick and defeated feeling that sucked all my physical and mental energy away. I'm excited to get into my next big full-time week of infusions ( next week ) so that we can see how I feel afterwards - since I had all these problems, I'm not quite sure how bad the fatigue really is. At any rate, I'm lucky that I went to the ER and that they were able to fix me up - the longer I waited the more damaging the effects would have been.
I have no long term problems caused by whatever happened to me. I've been to a cardiologist and my ticker is in fine shape. They took a good look at my lungs and chest and I don't have any fluids or blood clots anywhere in there. In fact, I'm in pretty good form after all - and feeling pretty darn lucky about it too.
The best guess for my condition was made by the ER doc - some sort of extended hyperventilation. Evidentially, you can hyperventilate for long periods of time, even subconsciously in your sleep, and effectively create inflammation in your chest to the point where it's very hard to breathe.
Some of my other doctors and nurses disagree with this idea, but nobody can give me a better explanation.
This extended stress response lasted for about 4 days leading up to my ER visit, and a whole bunch of other stress-related responses occurred during these 4 days too. I had horrible night-sweats one night - to the point where I thought i was having a nightmare - I was so soaked with sweat that when i dabbed my head with TP, it fell apart in my hand. I also broke out in pimples all over my head, chest, and back - initially I thought these were hives, then pimples from the night sweat episode, but I'm pretty sure they are a seperate response, since they aren't on my legs or arms. They are going away slowly, but they are still all over me. The worst stress response was that I felt absolutely out of body - as in I had extreme sensory perception problems.
I've told a few of you about this, but one day I actually had to turn around in the shower to make sure that it was still on - I couldn't feel the water. My hearing had an echo to it, and it was hypersensitive. I've since lost the echo, but my sense of smell and hearing have improved dramatically since I started chemo. Some of you have suggested that the smell is due to me quitting smoking, however I've quit smoking dozens of times and this increase in my ability to smell is definitely greater than normal. I was incredibly tired all the time - so much so, that I couldn't move around the house for more than a few hours before I had to lay back down and rest. At the time, I thought this was the normal fatigue related to the chemo, and I was very very scared about feeling this way for 3 months - in fact, I doubted that I would be able to do it - even as dedicated to this as I am.
This sensory perception problem was more likely an anxiety response than a drug side-effect. After treatment at the ER, all of that disappeared and I feel GREAT now, as many of you witnessed this weekend. I'm very thankful that it's over - it was the worst I've ever felt in my life - just a very sick and defeated feeling that sucked all my physical and mental energy away. I'm excited to get into my next big full-time week of infusions ( next week ) so that we can see how I feel afterwards - since I had all these problems, I'm not quite sure how bad the fatigue really is. At any rate, I'm lucky that I went to the ER and that they were able to fix me up - the longer I waited the more damaging the effects would have been.
I have no long term problems caused by whatever happened to me. I've been to a cardiologist and my ticker is in fine shape. They took a good look at my lungs and chest and I don't have any fluids or blood clots anywhere in there. In fact, I'm in pretty good form after all - and feeling pretty darn lucky about it too.
posted by Bill McDaniel at 11:41 AM
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