First dose of Hydroxyurea (chemo pill)

 About an hour after taking my first dose of Hydroxyurea I felt as if I had swallowed a ball of fire! My stomach was burning so bad, and I started to vomit. So I thought if I ate crackers slowly that it might help soak up what I felt was acid in my stomach and sooth my stomach some. I was able to keep the crackers down. At the time we didn't have a blowup mattress in the tent, so I was laying in a lawn chair that reclined back and the feet raised up. So I laid down in the lawn chair and tried to fall asleep, hoping that if I slept that I might be able to sleep through the rough part of my body adjusting to the medicine. 

We didn't have a toilet in the tent, and all though my son had a toilet in the house I didn't want to keep bothering them to go inside to use the bathroom and to be honest I didn't think that I would make it. I feel that I need to point out that my son would have allowed us to stay in the house with him and his family! But I didn't want to. They had a new baby, and puppies, and I just wanted to have time alone to adjust to this medication. In addition, I didn't want him or his wife to worry more that they already were about me. So I took a big bucket and put a garbage bag in it as a liner, and used a toilet lid to sit on top of it. That I kept in the tent because I had it coming out of both ends. 

Finally, I was able to lay back down in the lawn chair and I fell asleep. I slept so long that my Matt woke me up and asked me if I was okay. He said my breathing sounded funny and I felt hot. I just wanted a sip of water, and then I went back to sleep. 

When I woke up the next morning at first I thought I had a weighted blanket on my legs, because I felt as if I could barely move them. As I leaned up my body hurt so bad, and I saw that there was no weighted blanket on me. What I was feeling was severe muscle aches! I sat the chair up and I felt like I had a severe case of the flu. I was there alone, and wasn't sure if I was going to be able to stand, as I tried it felt very unsteady on my feet, so I crawled around the tent, put a new garbage bag in my bucket so I could use the bathroom and then I crawled over to the mini fridge and got some water and crackers to help with the ongoing nausea I was experiencing. Then I just went back to sleep and I slept for another eight hours or so. The oncologist called to check on me, and wanted to know what my symptoms were. I told him how I was feeling and he let me know that the side effects that I was having were normal. He wanted to see me in his office a few days later so that they could do blood work and see what my counts were. They were wanting to see them come down, and I had let them know that I was having pain under my left breast, so they wanted to look into that as well. 

When I went to see the doctor they said that my white count was starting to come down, but it was still very high. After a physical exam of my abdomen they informed me that my spleen was enlarged and swollen. They said this was common with CML, in addition they warned that should I get in a car accident or fall and land on my abdomen that I need to tell whoever responds that my spleen was enlarged. The doctor said that with any impact, in my abdominal area my spleen would more likely start bleeding and I may not realize it until it was too late. 

Wonderful, one more thing to worry about.....

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