Well last week we were in the hospital for fluids because of dehydration and this week we wound up in the hospital for blood transfusion.
Mom is doing much better, but wednesday was really tough. Its been an emotional rollercoaster and we all have frustrations in fighting this cancer. Its just really difficult knowing that mom is in pain and is uncomfortable all the time.
Anyway, wednesday I picked up mom and drove her to the START center for IV chemo treatment of carboplatin and taxol. It takes time to get set up and started with the chemo treatment and they do bloodwork first to check her vitals. Well, her vitals came back and showed her hemoglobin was really really low. Since her red blood count was so low we were informed that she needed a blood transfusion. She's never had one and it was a little scary to think about, but we had to get through the chemo treatment for the day.
Mom was feeling pretty bad and was hurting and weak. They hooked her up for chemo, but the iv drip was too fast and mom wound up having an allergic reaction. Her blood pressure and oxygen dropped and her heartrate rose very high. She became flushed and dizzy and couldn't breathe. She began to crash from anaphylactic shock. My older brother was by her when it happened and it was certainly hard to see her go through it. The nurses immediately stopped the chemo drip and gave her intravenous benadryl. Her body was able to recover and we waited to try the chemo again when she stabilized. The benadryl knocked her out pretty good and she was able to sleep after that. After a while they started the chemo drip again, but at a slower pace and she was good. We were there all day long and I think we finished at the START center around 6:30/7pm. From there we left and headed over to the Methodist hospital off Medical drive to get her admitted for the blood transfusion.
We were on the first floor in the Clinical transition Unit and we had a comfortable nook for her lie in and they drew more blood to match for the transfusion. Its a very interesting process and I wish I could've given my blood, but my mom is A positive and my blood is A negative. She wouldn't have been able to use it. I will still donate, but I've been pretty exhausted and busy the last couple weeks. Just a lot going on.
Anyway, they didn't start the transfusion till around 10pm and we were done around 5:30am, but we were able to leave around 6am. We stopped for breakfast tacos and then went home. I tried to nap for a little while, but I was unsuccessful. Its been a long day, but I hope to get a lot done this weekend. There's just so much to do and not enough time or help.
Please if anyone has any questions don't hesitate to email or respond. I do put up more updates on the facebook page, but I know not everyone has a facebook.
Thank you all again for your love and support!
-Vanessa Hudson
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