Our next door neighbor is a physician who is well aware of my condition--she practices with Dr. Kuo our internist--and she came over yesterday afternoon to enquire about my anemia. And admire my nearly bald head. Here I am with a vancomycin antibioitic dripping into one of lines in the port. I told her that I have the lab printouts, but they don't mean much to me. So she rushed home to get her regular glasses and then confirmed that I am still anemic and suggested that would account for some of my fatigue. She then noticed that my potassium count is quite low and that would further contribute to a wasted feeling. She then asked how I am sleeping and the answer is hardly at all, even when I have taken one of the 2 remaining ambien pills. We then examined my medication list and she objected to me taking Raglan at bedtime; she says it can have unpleasant side effects that could interfere with my sleep, and that pill might be causing most of my sleeping problems. So she called in 3 prescriptions to the Rite Aid Pharmacy near our home: one for Ativan, which I had been taking until the latest new drug protocol from Huntsman; one for potassium supplement (to raise my level of potassium in my blood), which I will take once a day; and a third for 10 mg Ambien pills, but Rite Aid would not fill the Ambien prescription. They said they had checked on the internet and Humana won't authorize a refill until the 26th.
Kate--our neighborly doctor--Told me to skip the bedtime dose of Raglan and sustitute Ativan for it; take one potssium pill with a meal once a day. She also suggested tht I use the Ativan as one of PAs at the Huntsman Center had proposed to preven nausea/and vomiting. Put one under my tongue a half hour befor eating. That has worked so well I had consumed all of the prescription that I got at the Huntsman Pharmacy. And Kate suggested that I use the Ativan instead of Raglan to control Nausea. I wonder if the Huntsman people will appreciate an independent opinion. But I surely do. I had the best night's sleep last night that I have had in weeks. The Ativan was a much better sleep inducer than Ambien has been any night that I have taken it. I may have the Ambien prescription filled on the 26th just in case the Ativan protocol fails.
I feel less tired today and generally better than I have since completing the early chemo program.
