Difficult week on new chemo

Monday started off great.  I received my chemo and took home a pump that continues to pump 2.7 ml of chemo an hour over a 48 hr period. Thank God for the portable take home pump because a few years ago patients would have to spend 2 days in the hospital.  When I left Swedish in Ballard I felt great.  They fill you up with steroids and other stuff that make you feel great.  I felt so good I was flying around the house cleaning up everything in site and finished a couple small projects.  It wasn't until we were headed back to Swedish to return the pump that I started to have pain on my right side below the rib cage where your diaphragm starts.
When we I saw the nurse I explained the pain to her.  I had just eaten lunch before we left and drank 32ozs of fluid, so I thought it was gas rather then my liver. Since i didn't have any breathing issues they instructed me to call if it gets worse. While the pain never got worse, the only way for me to make the pain subside was to lay on my left side.  On my back or laying on right side was extremely painful.  The pain I was feeling wasn't a side effect of the 3 chemo blend that was pumped throughout my body.  So later that evening i called the after hours nurse.  15 minutes later my Dr called me.  Told me its possible there may be a blood clot or possibly the chemo was killing the cancer in the liver which will cause the liver to fight, which causes pain or its just a side effect from chemo. Thursday afternoon almost 30 hours after pain started I called and spoke to my Dr.  He scheduled a CT scan to rule out a blood clot.  Most of Thursday afternoon was spent at Swedish waiting for a CT scan. I finally got my CT scan around 5pm.  My Dr and his nurse stayed late waiting for me and the results.  Good news is there was no blood clots and liver and lung looked normal.  So this must be some strange side effect or its possible but unlikely the chemo would work that fast to kill the cancer.  My Dr sent me home with a prescription of pain meds and had his nurse follow up with me on Friday.

Friday morning came and I still felt sick with a sharp pain in my right side.  Finally it was around 10 am I took a couple pain meds in addition to the medical marijuana and i finally started feeling better.  Thank you Jesus!  Because having to lay on your left side for 48hrs sucks.  I stayed on top of the pain med cocktail and felt good enough to sit upright and could get up and move around for a few minutes without any pain or discomfort.  The only issue I had was constantly going from hot to cold.  One of the side effects from this new chemo is it causes you to be extremely sensitive to cold.  Anyway I finished up Friday on a good note.  Able to go to bed at 9pm and sleep through the night.  Something I wasn't able to do for a few days.

Today, Saturday I woke up feeling the best I've felt since Monday.  The pain in my side is pretty much gone and my nausea is also almost non existent.  I realized these past couple of days just how sick chemo can make you.  Ive seen my Mom & my Mother in law go through chemo and how awful it was for them at time but until you go through it you have no idea how bad it can make you feel.  I said to myself "If your mom can do it, so you can you!"

I'm truly thankful for my amazing family and friends who send messages of encouragement and help out any way they can.  Never underestimate the power of love!  It does wonders to ones soul.    

Thank You!