A Cautionary Tale of Overdoing

There will be 2 posts today, one from experiences a while ago and another one from my recent -- and final! -- chemo treatment. This one is about the error of thinking "you are fine" when you're going through treatments.

A week after my 3rd treatment, I had a friend come into town who I haven't seen in about 20 years. Well, I was on the mend from the treatment and of course I always think I'm just "perfectly fine" except for the week right after treatment. So, I overdid. And man, did it make me pay!

For starters, I went out to eat and ate things I shouldn't, like spicy food and a beer or two. Then I stayed up a little late. Then I shoveled a big, wet snow from my LONG sidewalk. And the final straw, I decided that since these hemorrhoids which were acting up from the spicy food were not letting me get a good night's sleep, I would take 2 Percoset and go to bed. Along with a Zofran anti-nausea drug because the Percoset sometimes upset my stomach.

Now, I have taken Percoset after my surgeries and had no trouble with it at all. And I have taken the Zofran, too. But whether because Percoset (codeine + acetaminaphen) is strong, or because of a drug interaction, or (most likely) because my body is just in a reduced state, I had a HUGE allergic reaction.

HUGE - Like raised hives and terrible itching under my breasts, down my hips, groin and thighs. Like painful and itchy swelling in my hands, knees and finally even the bottoms of my feet and my face. Like waking up in the middle of the night going crazy with itching, to pace around the house itching, trying not to itch, putting on ice packs and chanting nonsense to keep my mind off it. Totally miserable. (But no trouble breathing, which is the truly scary reaction.)

The doctor prescribed some steroids, which didn't seem to help at all. Benedryl (capsules and cream), prescription anti-hemorrhoid suppositories (now those actually work!), other kinds of skin sprays & creams, nothing seemed to help that much, except just the time for whatever it was to work its way out of my system. Took about a week to get to small, reasonable outbreaks.

Even 3 weeks later, I still get little rashes on my hands, knees, arms, face, and take some more Benedryl capsules. They go away with a little Benedryl. I was quite worried about the next chemo, but it didn't aggravate it any further.

So, if you are finding this post, and you are one of those people going through cancer treatment who recovers fast and thinks "this really isn't so bad" -- don't be fooled! Your body is being very nice to you and don't take it for granted! Things can go very wrong, very quickly when you're body is compromised as it has to be when doing chemo! Rest, sleep, eat right, keep in mind that you are recovering from some dangerous chemicals in your body.