Side Effect of the Week

Bone pain.

From the Neupogen web site:
"In clinical trials, the most common side effect was mild to moderate bone pain, reported in approximately 22% of patients. In most cases, bone pain was controlled with a non-narcotic pain reliever, such as acetaminophen."

Mild to moderate, right. That's like when they tell you in birthing class that you will experience "discomfort" during labor. I remember when Nanc was in labor with Atley and he was coming out head first but he was facing up rather than down. "Sunny Side Up" it's called. Anyway, it can cause fairly painful back labor. She looked at me at one point and said something like "Discomfort, hell. This f*&$ing hurts!" She may argue the exact wording but the sentiment is right on. Trust me. I was there and remember, I have a better memory than she does.

To visit the relativity theory again, on a scale of 1 to 10, one person's 5 could be another person's 9. Nanc was pretty high up there last night and this morning. So we finally called Dr. Lang and it seems she was supposed to be taking Loratadine (Claritin) which helps that particular side effect. We thought she was only to take it if getting an injection of Neulasta, which is the longer acting version of Neupogen. They both help raise the white blood count so that you can stay on schedule for your chemo treatments. This is doubly important in her case as they are also trying to gather more data on the protocol at the same time.

Needless to say, it hurt like hell and added to the nausea the last couple of days. Obviously we are still learning as we go on. I figure we'll have this thing nailed out by the time it's all over and we're eating proscuitto and figs somewhere in the Tuscan countryside....

xoxo