Symptoms

On Thursday Cliff had to get a spinal tap along with a shot of chemo to make sure there aren't any cancer cells in his spinal fluid. He came home and took a long nap to avoid getting a spinal headache. After he woke up he started to develop a headache and his back was getting sore. I gave him some Advil, water, and a little dinner and he decided to go to bed early.

We had two appointments scheduled for Friday. He needed to get a pet scan done first, and we needed to head to Dallas second. When you get a pet scan done you aren't suppose to eat 8 hours before. Cliff went about his normal routine that morning and ate two hard boil eggs! Oops! We called the doctor and they said it should be fine and they moved the appointment two hours back. As Cliff was walking in the office I knew his head and back was sore, but thought he would be able to push through. The tech came out shortly after Cliff went back and told his mom and me he wasn't doing well and that he was nauseous and had a horrible headache. I called Dr. Turner's office and they told me that he was probably feeling bad from the shot of chemo and not the spinal tap. I told the tech I have some meds I can give him at home, but if he can still try and get the scan done because chemo was scheduled for Sunday. The tech came back out 15 minutes later and told us that he was now throwing up and he wouldn't be able to do the scan today. Bummer! It took a long few minutes, but we were able to get him in the car and get him home in bed. Every time I gave him a drink of water it came right back up. I was concerned that if he didn't keep anything down he would end back up in the hospital. Finally he fell asleep and when he woke up he was feeling a little better and was able to keep food and water down. I'm thankful for Dr. Turner and his nurses. I called many times that afternoon and they told me what to do to help him.

His headache and back pain have lasted all weekend. He wanted to have a few people over on Saturday night to watch the UFC Fights. I agreed, but had a feeling he wasn't going to make it. He spent a majority of the time lying in the bedroom, but he enjoyed having our friends over. They understood he didn’t feel well, and didn’t mind hanging out with me instead.

I'm really hoping this is from his spinal tap and not the shot of chemo. I would hate to see him feel this bad until chemo is over. He was supposed to start his second treatment today, but Dr. Turner thought it would be best to wait until he is feeling better. We are hoping he will start tomorrow or Tuesday. We also got told that he'll have another spinal tap at the end of the month. We thought this was a onetime deal, but I'll get more answers on that soon.