We arrived safely back at Hope Lodge yesterday with the anticipation of John beginning week #2 of the clinical trial. As with all clinical trials, there is a lot of monitoring of various vitals & info. To that end, our day began with lab work, followed by a visit with the Doc in charge of the trial, then an EKG, and finally the pre-meds (anti-nausea, etc.) & actual infusion, resulting in 5+ hours being spent in the hospital today. Needless to say, we're both tired.
John's bloodwork indicates normal levels are being maintained and the EKG was normal, so they proceeded with the infusion. All went well until he was finished with the infusion and they had removed the IV....at which time he started experiencing pain & a burning sensation originating at the IV site and travelling up his arm. After a few minutes of applying a hot pack, the pain & burning had subsided. By then, however, he was feeling a little light-headed, so they re-checked his blood pressure which was REALLY low at 92/48. Although the Doc suggested some IV fluids, John didn't really want to do another IV, so they had him remain where he was & rest, re-checking the BP every 15 minutes or so. It took about 45 minutes, but the BP did return to normal ranges.
Don't know exactly what caused all this, but tomorrow the plan is to slow down the infusion rate and see if that helps. It is normally prescribed to be infused over a period of 30 minutes, so they'll slow it to 1 hour and see if that changes anything. Obviously, that whole incident caused some anxiety, so he's a bit tired this evening......but all in all doing well and eating well.
He is now hanging out here in the livingroom @ the Lodge watching Dancing with the Stars with 3 ladies.....LOL!!! Those of you who really know John will realize how weird THAT is.....not that he's hanging out the with ladies (he's always done that), but that he is actually watching that show!!!!!
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