One Step Ahead, Hopefully Just One Step Back.

Kay started her second cycle of the Taxol/Avastin chemotherapy regimen last Tuesday, and it started much like first cycle.  Kay felt really good, we suspect from the Decadron high, for about 2 days. Unfortunately from there it has been tougher.   She started to have abdominal pain on the third day, much like with the first cycle, and to hurt all over.  This time though the pain just kept getting worse for the next 3 days, until Saturday it was really hard for Kay to get out of bed. By Sunday it became even worse, and the chills she had been having for the past 2-3 days became worse also. By evening she had a 101.7 fever.  This was enough to prompt an ER visit.
As ER visits go this was accomplished in a timely fashion, we got there about 8:30 PM and by 10:30 PM she had blood test and abdominal CT scan results that did not show any life threatening abdominal catastrophe, but she was admitted to Good Samaritan Hospital oncology unit for monitoring and IV fluids.
This morning she had two doppler ultrasound tests, one for arterial supply evaluation to her bowel, which looked OK, and then another for veinous flow evaluation looking for a blood clot or thrombosis that could block the drainage of the bowel.  These were basically not conclusive and Dr. Aversa our family doctor, and Dr. McCrosky Kay's local oncologist, were concerned about an infection in Kay's abdominal cavity, possibly from a micro-perforation of her bowel that could be a complication of the Avastin.  This led them to put her on IV antibiotics this morning, and so far, just a half day into the treatment Kay is not worse, maybe slightly better.
Pain and sleep deprivation have Kay in a discouraged state, but the family has been able to sit with her today and we are working to keep her and our spirits up.  I am forging ahead with our move to our new condo in the  Old Town district of Tacoma and that should be accomplished by Thursday.
We remain hopeful that this setback will pass and that better days are in Kay's immediate future.
Keep us in your prayers and they will join with ours.