Slower Infusion

I had three appointments today -- radiation session #4, a blood draw, and T-DM1 infusion #3. I arrived at 1pm and didn't leave till 7pm.

After my first T-DM1 infusion six weeks ago, I had three instances of neuropathy. After my second infusion, I had over 50 instances. Almost all of them were very brief, lasting only a second or two, and mostly on my hands and feet. While tolerable, I'd prefer not to have any pain at all, especially since the neuropathy can become permanent.

A person in my support group suggested slowing down the infusion to 90 minutes and also receiving normal saline for the duration. That makes sense. My first infusion was 90 minutes long so that the nurse can observe me for reactions to the new drug, and I had very few neuropathy episodes. The second infusion, however, was much faster at only 30 minutes. 

So a few days ago I sent a message to my doctor's staff asking that the infusion be slowed down. That means they had to extend my infusion appointment from 2 hours to 4 hours. It took 3.5 hours today, partly because they were 20 minutes late getting started. They always give me Zofran before the infusion. 

All those fluids meant I had to use the bathroom several times. It's no fun having to get out of bed, put on my shoes, unplug the IV pump, and carefully roll it with me to the restroom.

My blood work showed that my potassium was low again. I don't know why it was low. I had to take two big potassium pills. I managed not to gag or get the pills stuck in my throat.