Son of an Itch!

If you've not read the previous post, please do as I wouldn't want you to get out of order and not understand the situation, as it stands, at this moment. Timeliness is everything (and right up there with the fabled cleanliness and godliness!) Which is why I'm posting about my first day of treatment (prior post) and the reactions I had to the treatment (this post) on the same day. Timely, eh? The potential reactions I mentioned before was the list of items for which I was forewarned. Here's what I took out of Friday's meeting (and worried over the entire weekend).

Revlimid will make you drowsy, take it at night. RBC/WBC counts may drop, you can't do anything about it till you know the counts which means next visit, so don't worry about it now. Velcade will make you constipated - focus on spinach, broccolli and those other 'moving' veg. Dex will knock your socks off, make you really speedy, you'll be looking for things to do, kick the cat (they actually said that), etc. Expect to be wired Sat thru Sun and crash hard on Monday. Do the Velcade and Dex in the morning

I FELT COMPLETELY NORMAL - I NOTICED NOTHING - AT ALL

Until Sunday around 4pm.

I took my daughter to her swimming class on Sunday. It was my first adventure actually in the pool at the 14th street Y. Afterwards we went for Ramen across the street - really good, Japanese style Ramen - Mia Loved it. We then went to the playground and I noticed my head and my rectal area (I couldn't just say butt) both itched. Yes, itched.

First thing through my head, "oh my god - my kids swim in that pool every week!" Second thing through my head, "i can't have been allergic to the Ramen - I'm not really allergic to anything". When I got home I took a shower to be safe and didn't notice much of a change. But it wasn't till 33o in the morning when I woke up scratching like an old blood hound with the mange. I couldn't stop - it was killing me! I had a glass of milk and went back to bed. I tried to get up and work out but that wasn't working for me. I went to work and was fine (again, no crash) but if I just touched my head it turned into a 5 minute scratch-fest complete with bouncing leg (if you hit my ear just right!)

A frantic message to DFCI informed me that this is the Revlimid - nothing to be worried about. A later message from a DFCI RN told me I could take Benadryl, 25-50mg - which put me out, like a light, in the third inning of the game (which is probably a good thing). I took another 25mg at 2am and at this moment I'm hoping SVCCC has something more for me when I arrive there today as this itch is driving me crazy!

So my biggest reaction to the treatment? It's a son of an Itch!