Anna, meet Mitch.

Feb 13 - 17, 2013

Wednesday and Thursday were quiet for Mitch, who we dubbed 'Casper' for the week.  His blood test results, from bloods taken by the Royal District Nurse on Thursday, came back with very low platelet and red cell counts.  The hospital said this would mean top ups on Friday of both platelets and blood and that chemo would now be moved to Saturday.  Pleasingly, he has eaten quite well the last couple of days.

Mitch and Lisa headed in (to RCH) early Friday morning to get things started.  He'd had both blood and platelets before.   A fairly uneventful platelet transfusion first, then blood.  Some minutes into the blood transfusion Lisa noticed a little swelling of the lips and left eye.  A reaction to the platelets apparently, which Lisa was told was a bit odd, especially as this time they were from a single donor, as opposed to a "mixed bag", where it is more common to have an allergic reaction.  A dose of phenergen and a big sleep and 10.5 hours later they were home and all was well.

Saturday morning saw a respectable 9.00am appointment for chemo. Vincristine and PEG Asparaginase today.  Again, he'd had both of these before with no particularly bad side effects.  Anti-nausea meds and Vincristine went in via his port with no dramas.  Five (5) mil into 100ml of the Asparaginase however, Mitch began saying his throat felt a bit funny.  I then noticed a rash starting to form on his head, which quickly spread to his neck and the rest of his body.  The nurse stopped the IV immediately, whilst Mitch's throat and breathing got worse and he (we) got a little distressed.  The nursed called a MET and within minutes we had around a dozen doctors and nurses in the room.  His main oncology doctor for the day, very calm and direct, called for an Adrenaline jab followed by a hydrocortisone and anti-histimine (more phenergen) IV push.  It got worse before it got better but pretty quickly the meds began to work.  They added oxygen and a steriod nebuliser before his breathing returned to close to normal.  Whoa!....So that's what an Anaphylactic reaction looks like!  Sympathies to all you "nutters" out there.....Good ol' Anna Phylaxis.

So, we will be staying overnight for observation and have to move to a different (non-IV), less reactive version of Asparaginase.  Unfortunately, this new version is via injection and spread over 6 doses over 12 days (?), probably starting Monday.

He is closely monitored over the rest of Saturday and apart from the normal nausea from chemo and a few chucks he has no other signs of a reaction. 
We were home by lunchtime on Sunday arvo, after a detour to Hoyts Eastland for some cinema popcorn, which is the only thing he feels like eating.

Little Aths 2010