Monday, October 19, 2009

Yet another side effect comes calling

Hi everyone

Ok I officially hate Erbitux. Say it with me “We hate Erbitux, We hate Erbitux”

I guess I was being foolishly optimistic but I actually thought there was one stinking side effect from Erbitux that I might not have to go through. But I was wrong. Starting this weekend I started getting fissures in my fingers right around the nails. This was mentioned as a possible side effect but since I hadn’t seen any signs of it I figured I was safe. What happens is the skin all around my finger starts getting really dry. Then it starts peeling, just like you had a sunburn. Then these cracks (fissures) start happening around the fingernail and boy do these hurt!!! We have tried putting Neosporin on them but its too early to tell if that is working yet. I will have to wait until Friday when I go in again and see what the doctor says but everything I have read about Erbitux suggests that there isn’t much you can do. I read online about a guy who went through the whole 6 month treatment and he got this on all 10 of his fingers and had to wear special gloves because it hurt just to touch things. Right now I have it on two fingers as you can see from the picture but I feel it coming on 3 others. Isn’t that amazing that after 4 weeks and one single session that these kinds of things can still happen? I must be very unlucky because I read about people who go through the whole 6 months and never get one side effect.

 

I picked up a prescription ointment for the face rash that is supposed to help keep it from getting infected so I started that today. I will let you know how that goes since the rash seems to be hanging around longer than I ever expected and it is very damaging to my self esteem to walk around looking like this!

 

Anyway, enough complaining…let's talk about the good stuff. By dropping the dosage we seem to finally have gotten that part right. On the weeks that I get treatment I am sick the following four days and then for the next 2 days I start to feel better and then I have almost a whole week of feeling relatively normal. That is fantastic because even though I complain about the face rash and these new fissures on my fingers, the fact that I have the being sick part under control is far more important. I am very happy to concede 4 days of feeling like crap to have a week of feeling normal. I can do that for 6 months.

The other good thing is that I have a very understanding boss who let's me “do whatever I can” on the Mon and Tues when I am sick without making me take a sick day for it. Basically he is letting me slide on that which is really awesome.

 

Not much else going on, just trying to stay one step ahead of things and not get too discouraged when I can’t.

I wish all of you a heartfelt

“Peace and Love”

John (and Carol)

2 comments:

  1. You're handling all of this like a trouper ... I Love You!

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  2. "C & J" You two are in our books as real troupers handling your 'second journey' as real adults! No whining for mom or dad to come to the rescue! Our continued prayers and love each day for you two... "M & D"

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