No Bleo in #8

Treatment #8 - February 19, 2013

After seven treatments, treatment number eight was the same old routine. Mrs. G. picked Donny and I up around 1:15pm and took us downtown to the Galter Pavillion. After the blood draw, we got called back to the treatment room where the head nurse, Cheryl, asked us about Donny's latest symptoms and addressed any questions we had.

Donny's coughing before he was diagnosed was unlivable. He literally coughed no matter what he did. He walked to the kitchen, coughed, sat in his chair, coughed, rolled over in bed, coughed. The only time he didn't cough was when his adrenalin was pumping a little, like when he drove or flew in a helicopter (on our honeymoon). But after each treatment, the coughing has gotten less and less, to a point where it was almost unnoticeable - until the last two weeks. While occasional coughing in healthy human beings isn't something to worry over, coughing in someone who is on Bleomycin is something to worry about.  Bleomycin, 1 of the 4 drugs Donny is on, is the drug that many athletes, most famously Lance Armstrong, refuse to take as a treatment option because it can cause different forms of lung damage, most commonly known as Pulmonary Toxicity.  And coughing is the first symptom of pulmonary toxicity.

When Cheryl came in to ask us Donny's latest symptoms, we told her about the increase in coughing.  She was immediately concerned, not in a freak out kind of way, but in an inquisitive way, where she asked a lot of follow up questions and made sure to tell Dr. P. about it.  Naturally, Dr. P. wanted to see us after hearing this news.  We usually see him every other treatment, but with something like this, he came over to see Donny.  Dr. P. was not worried because Donny's cough isn't a dry cough.  But still, Dr. P. said that Donny would not receive the Bleomycin today and that he wanted to do some precautionary tests.  So Donny had to get a chest X-ray immediately after treatment and we have to schedule a pulmonary exam next week some time.

After we got home, Donny felt like crap and fell asleep for a couple of hours.  But of course, the Hawks were on, so he woke up for that and managed to scrounge up enough energy to cheer for them til the end.