UnDomestic

Writings of a teachermom, choosing to stay home with her kids, while loathing all domestic responsibilities! In late Aug. 2008, I was diagnosed with Triple Negative breast cancer. After surgery, chemo and radiation, I was given theall clear. However, in the late summer of 2008, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor, which metasticized to other areas.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Popping Pills...a lot of them!!!

I met another neurologist today. She was quite thorough, and she just came across as very knowledgeable and easy to talk to. She didn't seem sad like some of the other medical professionals I've come in contact with....sad meaning they feel bad that this is happening to me. She was more of a "let's get down to business and figure this out"...I liked that a lot.

I gave her my list of symptoms, prefacing them with the statement that I am NOT a hypochondriac, despite what it my list might indicate.

Her thoughts on the intense pain problem mirrored my husbands....nerve pain. I had a lot of nerve pain a few days after my mastectomy. I was given a medication called Neurontin, actually something they give to people with epilepsy. The pain gradually went away, and after a few weeks, I was able to stop taking it completely. Let's pray that the medicine works the same with this new pain. I hope it works quickly as well because although I can't remember exactly how I felt on the medication, I remember saying that the Neurontin was making me neurotic!

I am on so many different medications right now it's just crazy! I finally started writing down each pill I took because I kept forgetting throughout the day when and what I had consumed.

As an example, here's what I took today.

6AM
Tylenol...for my headache.

8AM
Zoloft...so I'm not so crabby.
Indomethacin...for my headaches...what the first neurologist prescribed to me when the migraine shot of Imatrex did not work. If after tomorrow if the headaches aren't better, I can discontinue this prescription.

2:30PM
Vicodin--for head pain and all my other pains. Today my back was hurting more, as was my ear. This pill makes me very sleepy, but works fairly well for the pain.

4:40PM
Neurontin--for my nerve pain...what we hope will stop all this pain. This is my new medicine that I pray works. It also makes me sleepy. This will be great at night, but all these "may cause drowsiness" drugs are going to be difficult to deal with during the day.

5:00PM
Tylenol -- for headache.
Multi-vitamin

6:20PM
Indomethecin-- as stated above, for headaches.

8:30PM
Nystatin--a mouthwash for sores on my tongue. I'm supposed to do this 4 times a day, but I keep forgetting.
Neurontin--as stated before, for the nerve pain. Normally my two doses will be spaced out more, but I didn't get them from the pharmacy until later today.
Vicodin--as stated before, for pain.

As you can see, I'm taking a lot of medications. Just another reason why I am so incredibly thankful that I have my husband to help me figure out how safe it is to take the drugs and the combination of them. I would think I was overdosing taking all these different pills, but having him to supervise my intake of medicines puts me at peace that everything will be just fine.

But my combo of Vicodin and Neurontin makes me VERY SLEEPY. I can barely keep my eyes open as I write this post. So with that, I think I better publish my post and get some much needed sleep.

Goodnight...and gold stars to everyone who thought about my problem today!!!! Thanks for the input!

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2 Comments:

At 6:58 PM, Blogger LH said...

Hi Cari, I'm watching Rocky right now. I first saw it when I was in high school. Have you ever seen it?
So dumb, but I like it anyway. Just the first one. All the sequels were stupid.

I think the meds must be hard to deal with. On the other hand, I'm always happy when a medication works. I just think it's great that someone figured out how to make a pill do a certain thing.

Thinking of you kiddo. Enjoy the "healing power of sleep" as the Jill Bolte Taylor book says, and get up and blog for us tomorrow! love 2 u, lee

 
At 8:08 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Cari,
I haven't been able to check your blog for the last week. Like you, I am a teacher, and the beginning of the year has been quite hectic to say the least (you remember I'm sure). I am pretty new to this whole blogging thing, but I cannot begin to express how touched I am by you and your writing. You are truly inspiring. Since your mom (I'm your parent's neighbor) told me about your blog I have told many of my family and friends to look to you for inspiration.
I just caught myself up on about a week of entries. Your Sept. 7th entry was especially amazing. You really exemplify "always look on the bright side". It's nothing short of incredible that you can focus on the positive changes that have come about b/c of your cancer (your new comfort level w/ speaking about your faith & your new appreciation of daily motherhood--2 things I also relate too!)
I want to let you know that I am praying that you solve this pain puzzle soon. I am such a wimp when it comes to headaches. I can't imagine how debilitating (sp?) and disruptive they must be right now for you.
Continuing to pray for complete healing,
Bernice Adair

P.S. Give your mom my love and tell her we miss her. I've only seen your dad once or twice since none of us ever seem to be home!

 

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