Cycle 2, Day 21 - Another break in the action

I saw my oncologist again today for the 5th time in just over a week. Cycle 3 was set to begin tomorrow but like cycle 2 was, it has been pushed back a week. I am still battling this sore throat. I've been on antibiotics for almost a week and they've done nothing. In fact, if anything it's gotten worse. I have minor pain and pressure from my throat up to my ear and my right tonsil is the size of a small grape. My oncologist is waiting for the swab to come back confirming whether it's bacterial or viral. If it's bacterial he may switch my antibiotic. If not, I guess we wait for it to get better. He may consult an infectious diseases specialist. Either way, as much as he wants to push forward with chemo, if we do, it could be dangerous. I have an infection which is getting no better and chemo will drop all my blood counts again meaning I will have even less means of fighting it. So we wait.

The other thing on the table is whether I get another picc line or not. I probably won't, but I may not have enough veins to get all my chemo and hydration (which will once again be stepped up this cycle to 14 days) through regular IV's. My left arm may or may not be a write off because of the clotting, leaving only my right arm which isn't in great shape either. The fear with the picc line is that it would also clot like my first one did. But because I'm already on blood thinners that risk is greatly reduced. Speaking of blood thinners, turns out I will be on the injections for 6 weeks (I knew this already) and then oral blood thinners for 6 months. I will be switched to a drug called warfarin. Perhaps you've heard of it, it's also used as rat poison. No joke... I love this stuff. Also on the topic of blood clots and the what not, I was going for a chest x-ray the other day and looked at the form which described my condition as "pulmonary embolisms". My doctor had referred to them as small blood clots in my lungs and I had never connected that to the term "pulmonary embolisms". It sounds way scarier when you put it like that.
My doctor is again making changes for next cycle. I was going to be hospitalized but it doesn't look like there will be a bed so that probably won't happen. I will also be getting steroids and hydration everyday for the first 14 days. And we're going to add a new nausea med which also doubles as an anti-psycotic. I feel like I could use some anti-psycotics right now.

I would love to push forward and get this over with, but I do appreciate the break. I feel like I haven't recovered from the last cycle yet. My hope is that this infection is cleared up soon. Right now the anti-biotics are still making me nauseous and it's hard to swallow because of my throat/tonsel so I'm barely eating again. It would be really nice to have a few days of eating well and feeling better before I start again. Then 3 more weeks and it's all behind me.

Here's Anthony wearing the Livestrong T-shirt that his Mom got for him. He turns 2 on Oct 3rd. Anthony and I spend most of our time together lately watching TV or reading books in bed. I keep telling him that soon enough we'll be back to piggyback rides and playing outside, etc. He understands so much and is doing really well with everything. And he has to give me a kiss on every single boo boo (bandaid) I have at least once or twice a day. He's pretty awesome!