Timing

 

Tuesday started off great.   I felt better than I had since my first chemo treatment, and I was ready to face a beautiful day.  By the end of the day, things had gotten interesting.   And if you have been reading my blog, you know that interesting means painful.   At 5:00 pm, my abdomen started to feel uncomfortable.   I went on a three mile walk with my wife at 6:00 pm, and by the end of the walk I was in pain.   I tried to eat, and I tried to suck it up and endure, but could not.   At 1:30 am Wednesday, I knew that this agonizing pain was not a simple gastro-intestinal issue, but a problem with my appendix.  I was nauseated and had a fever.  Malena took me to the emergency room, which was thankfully not busy, and we were immediately taken to an examination room.   I was given a saline IV, and some dilaudid for the pain, and had a CAT scan scheduled.   The dilaudid only took the edge off of the pain – it went from agonizing to ‘this still hurts!’.  After my CAT scan, the pain started to intesify again, so I was given more dilaudid.   The doctor arrives in my examination room and tells Malena and me that my appendix is fine, that I am having cramps.   Cramps?  Really?  If cramps can hurt that bad, they need a new name, like hyperpain muscle flexion or something.   The doctor gave me a new prescription to add to my growing collection, and sent us home.   We stopped to get the prescription filled, and arrived home just before 7:00 am.   It was a long night to say the least.   We tried to sleep, but an endless parade of phone calls and people banging at the door prevented any type of meaningful rest.  At 2:30 pm Wednesday, the hospital calls back to tell us a second radiologist looked at the scan and determined that it may have been my appendix after all.  The really weird thing is that this scenario played out almost exactly as it had in 2008.   Big pain, emergency room, not your appendix, oops - yes it was.   Different hospitals, for those wondering.   I am not in pain now, just a bit tender in my abdomen from the ‘cramps’.   I called my oncologist’s office on Wednesday to fill them in, and so they could decide whether or not to schedule an appendectomy.   I haven’t heard back from them, so I am guessing that since I am not in pain, we will delay the appendectomy until after chemo.    If I have my appendix removed now, I will have to completely heal before I can resume chemo.   On the other hand, if my appendix ruptures while my immune system is compromised from the chemo, things could get exciting.  I think a ruptured appendix is unlikely, and that cancer is my most pressing problem since I am not currently in agonizing pain.   But, I will do whatever my oncologist wants me to do in regard to my appendix.  My second chemo treatment is scheduled for Thursday, March 24th.  Hopefully, my blood counts will be good and my appendix and I can proceed with the chemo.