Gut Response

Bright and early Saturday morning, Karen shook me awake and asked me to take her to the Emergency Room. The abdominal pain that had struck during chemo on Monday, while it had subsided in the near term, had begun to reassert itself aggressively and Karen had been unable to keep food down or in for about two days by the time Friday rolled around. Eating caused tremendous pain and even drinking a glass of water was agony, followed by near-immediate vomiting. After being up most of the night, she'd had enough and called our oncologist who told her to head to the ER.

After a CT scan it was postulated that Karen was suffering from a pretty significant case of colitis, with inflammation in both her transverse and descending colon. She was admitted to the hospital for observation and more tests, including an absolutely delightful colonoscopy Sunday morning. That confirmed the diagnosis. Karen stayed in the hospital another day and returned home Monday afternoon. Once it was clear that Karen was going to be okay and that it wasn't really necessary for me to be around, I left for a business trip and let Miranda and my parents (who were scheduled to visit already in order to care for Karen while I took this trip) collected her from the hospital.

So what does this all mean for her treatment? You got me. We'll be talking to the oncologist once I get back. But there are reasons to be concerned. This kind of inflammation and internal bleeding is associated with two of the drugs in Karen's chemo cocktail, Avastin and Carboplatin. Most likely she cannot continue with the same chemo regimen and will need to change drugs, alter dosages, suspend treatment, or outright end it. I honestly have no idea. For the moment, there's no urgency: she's not scheduled for another infusion for two more weeks so nothing is/was going to happen over those 14 days anyway (which is why I was free to travel...obviously if there were immediate concerns I would have stuck around).

This shit just never seems to stop and it is, to coin a phrase, a right fucking drag. But we soldier on and I have to say, everyone does seem to have a pretty good, resilient attitude about it. Especially Karen.

The most unsettling thing about this recent incident? Late Sunday night I headed to our bedroom, brushed and flossed, then settled into bed to watch "Girls." I laughed out loud and reflexively tried to swallow it lest I disturb Karen's sleep. And then I looked where she should have been and she wasn't there and it was incredibly unsettling. I had the bed to myself. I thought to myself, "So this is what it's going to be like" and it was like living in the present and the future simultaneously and it was just kind of awful.

We should know more about the road ahead soon, ideally sometime on Friday.