BC Becky

Never thought I'd want to be a breast cancer survivor

Tag: emergency

  • Mouth sores & First cycle symptoms

    For the last few days I’ve been discovering what chemo mouth sores feel like. Earlier I had a few canker sores. I usually get them when my iron is low, which also happens with chemo, so I was supplementing iron which mostly kept the cankers to a minimum. Then I got a true chemo mouth sore. It is nothing like a canker sore. It formed on the side of my tongue, which apparently is particularly sensitive (ouch).

    There are many mouth wash recipes on the Internet, so I asked Scott to find one and make me a mouth wash from a recipe for treating mucositis (he made it in a small nalgene bottle for me):

    • 14 oz of warm water
    • 1 Tablespoon Baking Soda
    • 1/4 Teaspoon Salt

    It seems to be working. I used it last night and this morning (and after anytime I eat) and the sores are starting to get better. I now know why the doctors ask “can you eat”, as the concern isn’t the sore itself (that is a chemo side effect, and it will eventually heal), their concern is that you are eating enough so that you stay healthy overall. Fortunately, among the odd prescriptions I got from emergency (even the dermatologist was confused by this one) was a bottle of oral viscus lidocaine (like the dentist uses before putting in a needle), which is used to help provide symptomatic relief of the mouth sores to allow you to eat. So, for this one, I was prepared in advance.

    I’ve created a little chart for my oncologist (and myself to allow for planning next cycle) of my various chemo symptoms in the first cycle (if you think something similar would be useful for yourself, send me an email and I’ll send you the template – it is done in Powerpoint). I will use it when I next see the oncologist to get him to write in the preventative section at the bottom information about when I should not swim, and any other activities I should be limiting at various times, as well as when I can and cannot take NSAIDs. I’m finding that I need the visualization to better understand things – and I want to make sure that I’m not being too cautious about swimming, as it is something that I need for my mental health – especially if biking may involve blistering.

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  • Not without incident

    So my last post on more extreme reactions didn’t exactly get it right. With the blisters still progressing I called the on-call oncologist who didn’t think it was related to the chemo. The location of the sores and my comments about allergic reaction sent her on the wrong track. I took a couple Benadryl as suggested and observed; however, the blisters continued.

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    After picking up mom and going to support group, I decided it made more sense to stop in at emergency at Stanford than drive home and call the oncologist again, who mentioned that they would need to be seen if the problem persisted. We figured that it was a good idea to check out the emergency procedures anyways, while I was happily ambulatory and not “really sick”, just in case I needed the services at a later time.

    Photo Jul 12, 6 53 54 PM

    After five hours and consultations with the internal medicine resident, oncology resident, on-call oncology fellow, dermatology resident, and on-call dermatology attending (who happened to the be the director of oncology dermatology) it was diagnosed as a reaction to the chemotherapy (Toxic erythema of chemotherapy). What had put people off of the diagnosis earlier is the atypical location of the blisters and the fact that I was doing so well otherwise. They were worried about Steven-Johnson syndrome (SJS), which would have been more severe and would have required IV corticosteroids.

    So after five hours we were off to a pharmacy to pick up some creams to help with the symptoms. With this, they treat the symptoms. They don’t change the chemo as it is not considered a severe enough reaction to warrant a change. Unfortunately, the emerg folks at Stanford have out of date information about 24-hour pharmacies, so they sent us to a closed pharmacy. We decided to just go home and deal with it in the morning. In the mean time, ice and the cream I use to numb my port are keeping me sane.

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