My Avastin is on hold until November 24, 2015. I had an emergency surgery October 15th to have my gallbladder (GB) removed. I dislike that word so I will use the initials GB instead.
I was awakened the day prior at 1 am with horrible pain in my upper abdomen that just got worse and worse. I was sick, no anti-nausea meds or pain meds worked. I finally had to call 911, Of course I was not given any pain meds until an ultrasound was done. I wonder if the ambulance personnel thought I was a drug addict because I had pulled out a bunch of pill bottles looking for amything that could help.
The doctors started me on antibiotics and I had the GB surgery the next morning. I was given lots of dilaudid to get me through until surgery.
I never knew a GB attack was this painful. Several friends have since shared their GB nightmares.
I wanted to share a few important pieces of information:
1. Always have your med, allergy, diagnoses and contacts information on hand. I always do, except for of course this past time. The ambulance driver may not be able to take you to where your primary or oncologist are based. In my case I literally was crying out for the closest hospital. That is how bad the pain was. I did not have this info on me and I could barely speak. It was rather difficult to tell them this information.
2. If you are not comfortable with the resident surgeon, please ask for the attending surgeon. In my case, given that I have cancer, I just felt uncomfortable with a resident doing my surgery. The resident was very polite and understood. My operation was performed by a board certified surgeon, and for that I am grateful.
I have been exhausted, am still on pain pills, but have greatly improved. I have some really amazing friends in my building who watched my kit kat Marilyn and did a little shopping for me. I should be OK to drive by the end of this week. I am slowly getting back in the groove of things.
So I see my gynonc in a few weeks and then prayerfully all will be well again and I can resume my Avastin. In the mean time I pray this break from Avastin does not allow any surge in cancer activity. It is a great time to rebuild my stamina.
In case you are wondering as to why the Avastin needs to be on hold, Avastin increases risk for bleeding. I do have a couple of new clips inside along with 5 incisions that all need healing from the GB surgery. Plus Avastin can cause one to be a slow healer. So there you have it.
Onward and upward. Time for the holidays! Time for Christmas cheer! Yes I am one of "those" people. I started listening to my Christmas music today. Yay!
Peace and Blessings
Denise
