Nasty Little Prick!

Well, what I thought was going to be an uneventful treatment, turned out to be more than I bargained for!

As you all know, I had a treatment on December 21 that included Taxotere, Herceptin and a Neulasta shot (which is given 24 hours after my treatment drip).  This was my first time with Neulasta as the Neupogen shots gave me extreme pain and discomfort that accumulated over a period of seven days and landed me in the hospital!

When I arrived at the doctors office on December 21, I knew that the Neulasta shot was finally covered by insurance (it's a $2700 shot) and that I would be able to get it this time.  Unfortunately, that was a huge deciding factor for me...the cost...as I am sure it would be for anyone!  I was excited because it would only be one shot instead of the 7 shots that I had prior.  I was told by my nurse that I could experience pain between the 7 to 10 day mark after receiving the shot.  Or I could avoid it with my meds, which included an extension on my steroids as well as a different pain medication.  I was assured that it would be much better than the Neupogen shots...well...all WAS much better until day 10!

Day 9 was New Year's Eve...I enjoyed the day with the family, feeling pretty good and feeling like my energy was up and that I had passed the corner of possible side effects.  I even stayed up past mid night and rang in the New Year with Jason and his parents.  We played board games, had munchies and just enjoyed the company.  I went to bed around 12:30 (I said I stayed up past mid-night...not much...but I made it) LOL  At 3:30am I was awaken with excruciating pain in my legs, ankles, and shoulders.  I got up and made my way to the washroom only to literally fall onto the toilet.  My legs simply gave out!  I didn't want to wake Jason because I knew he had only just come to bed and just got to sleep.  So, I slowly made my way downstairs for pain medication.  I couldn't find my meds, only Advil 400mg, so I quickly popped one and went back to bed.  I couldn't get back to sleep and lay there in pain for over an hour before I finally woke Jason and asked him to get my pain medication...the good kind!  He got my meds and I was able to fall asleep for a few hours until they wore off.  I woke around 7:30am and I thought someone had taken an ice pick and picked all my bones in my legs apart!  It felt like every single bone in my lower extremities were about to explode...I had the sweats, I couldn't stop crying and I there was nothing that I could do about it!  I was able to take two more pain meds and that seemed to help with the pain...or at least make it tolerable!  Jason said I looked very stoned!  I felt very stoned!...good drugs!  Two days later and I am feeling much better...just feels like I worked out too hard (and if any of you have seen me lately...I certainly don't look like I work out! )LOL

Now, my next treatment is on January 11th and I am wondering if I will even require the Neulasta shot!  I mean really...this is my last treatment...I don't need my white blood cell counts to be at a certain level in order to receive more treatment.  I will ask my doctors what is best and hopefully we can avoid any of these terrible shots!  Believe me, they work...they bring your WBC's up to normal levels and allow you to stay on track with your treatments, but my oh my, they are nasty little pricks with side effects that really suck! 

Hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year! :)

Be positive, be strong and please pray for me!