Chemo #1 Day 6: Hospital Visit and Pizza!

If you've been following along this week, you know that my biggest problem from the chemo has been mouth and throat pain.  It started a couple days ago and has been really painful.  I don't have mouth sores (which is good), but it feels like my tongue is being stabbed with a million needles.  It's worse when I eat, drink, or brush my teeth.  It's like the nerves are super-sensitive, it's not fun!

Because of this pain, I haven't been able to eat or drink much the last few days.  I've been living on popsicles and smoothies, and even those have been painful.  This morning I woke up with the same mouth pain, plus nausea, and a headache.  I just felt icky.  We assumed the nausea and headache were due to dehydration - since I haven't gotten much fluids the last few days.

Josh finally talked me into going to the hospital to get some IV fluids.  For some reason I thought I would try to "tough it out" and didn't think I needed the ER, but luckily my husband knows me well and convinced me that there was no shame in getting the help I needed.

So off to the ER we went.  They pumped me full of fluids (which they said I definitely needed).  They also gave me IV anti-nausea medicine and some morphine to help my mouth.  When I left the hospital, I felt a hundred times better!  The doctor encouraged me to eat and drink as much as I could tonight while the morphine was still working and my mouth wasn't in terrible pain.  So we stopped by Taco Bell and got some cheesy potatoes (just to test it out).  I scarfed those down (hey, I was starving!!) so we picked up some Hungry Howie's pizza on the way home and I ate two pieces before we even pulled into home :)

I've been home from the hospital now for about an hour and still feel decent.  My throat is getting a little sore again, so I'm trying to drink as much as I can while I still feel ok.  The good news is that the chemo should be working it's way through my system, so the pain in my mouth and throat should be getting better in the next day or two.

Unfortunately I had to miss the 2nd Annual Adult Field Day with all my friends last night :(  But my cousin (who has been getting chemo for a few months now and is always full of great advice) said "Relax, Little Miss Do-Everything" and so I took her advice!  I hope to be feeling better soon and can catch up with my friends next week!

Love,
Melissa