December 1-Chemo reaction

Hello to all. We had a mixed day today. Mark went in for chemo #3 this cycle. He took the Ativan and Benadryl ahead of time to help circumvent the nausea. All things were a go and he didn't get the dry heaves walking into the infusion center, so we thought things were good. Mark's cancer marker came back at 8 and that is GREAT news!!!!!!!!!! We were thrilled with that number. It should be <3 for normal. It started at 16 and climbed to 25 in a weeks time before starting this round of chemo, so it was an impressive fall. Mark got the IV nausea meds and the IV steroid infusion and then the oxaliplatin and the leukovorin and that's where things went south. Mark was about 20 minutes into that infusion when he woke from sleeping looking very red and violently coughing. He couldn't stop coughing. He coughed so hard and often that he had tears coming out of his eyes. His infusion nurse quickly came over and stopped his infusion. He started looking rashy, but the cough immediately got better. They gave him another steroid push and more Benadryl (IV this time) and some IV histamine blocker. Mark's heart rate shot up into the 130s and he felt like it was pounding out of his chest. After the meds, things started calming down. Dr. Johnson was immediately there on site and later Dr. Farmer came to look at Mark. She thinks it is a reaction to the leukovorin which isn't "chemo" but a catalyst that helps the 5FU chemo work better. We will have to stop that now. Unfortunately this med is a part of every chemo regimen that treats colon cancer. Dr. Farmer was positive in stating that she has several other patients who have developed this allergy and are doing fine without the leukovorin. She states it would be too risky with the brochospasm to reintroduce it to Mark.

After all of that fun, he was able to finish oxaliplatin infusion and get started on the 5FU infusion which is the pump that he brings home and lasts 46 hours. He was pretty sleepy with all the meds on board, but insisted on going to Calen's basketball game, so we headed straight from the infusion center to the gym and watched basketball. Mark was actually feeling a little better than last time and so far (knock on wood) hasn't had the nausea.

Colton came home from the game with a migraine headache and began vomiting on the carpet. He has had a few rounds of the vomiting so far and feels absolutely terrible. Hopefully he will be feeling better by morning. We will see.

Thanks for all of your prayers and support. Continue to pray for Mark's healing and recovery. Keep Paulo in your prayers as well. God bless!!!!!!