I had the 2nd infusion of the new protocol on Friday.  My friend Michael came to sit with me and brought Jamba Juice.  The infusion should have been short, except my magnesium was still low, so I needed to get 2 grams over 2 hours.  So it was another 5 hours in the infusion center.

I had a busy weekend.  My friends Amanda, Angie, Catherine, Melissa and Nancy attended a free knitting workshop held at Bay Area Cancer Connections, which was a ton of fun. Angie drove 4 hours to attend the workshop, and then stayed for the weekend, which is great because it was her birthday weekend.  Lunch, movie, dinner, breakfast – the weekend flew by and it was awesome to spend time with Angie.  And as a plus, I was feeling pretty good.

Except for…on Wednesday, I woke up to some pain in my lower left molar.  This happened before, in August of last year.  Back then, the endodontist said that there was nothing wrong with the root, but it could be that the tooth would need to be extracted.  He gave me some antibiotics and the area calmed down, so I didn’t worry about it.  With 20/20 hindsight, I should have had the tooth pulled, because now my tooth is infected again, and because of the danger of infection, it will need to get pulled.  The tooth is cracked, and when I grind my teeth, the crack irritates the surrounding area, and in this case, it’s gotten infected.  It’s a balancing act between my blood counts and how infected the tooth may be, to decide when to pull it, how to treat it when pulled and when I can have chemo.

I had a blood draw today, and my counts are heading south, so I can’t get the tooth pulled this week, which the dentist wants to do.  I’m on antibiotics for the infection, so hopefully things will calm down.  I’ll have another blood draw on Monday, with hopes that I can get the tooth pulled on Wednesday.  The dentist would like to delay my next infusion until the following Friday, but I’d prefer to have it on the 10th as scheduled. Dr. K is fine with that, so I need to talk to Dr. H (dentist).  And hope that my counts are okay by Monday.  The pain from the tooth is pretty bad, I have to say, and my pain tolerance is pretty high.  There’s something about tooth pain that just makes one miserable.

I’m a pretty optimistic person, but boy, it sure feels like I can’t catch a break.  At least the effects of the infusion isn’t too bad:  the worse is the peripheral neuropathy in my fingertips.  Even though I’m off the steroids and anti-nausea drugs today, I’m feeling okay other than my mouth.  Just a little diarrhea (which I’ve gotten really good at managing), and no nausea yet.  In the meantime I’ll take lots of Advil and Tylenol, and hope the antibiotics will kick in soon.