Loose Strife

Laura’s handling this latest round of chemo extremely well so far. It’s really remarkable. None of the previous nausea/vomiting, malaise, or pain even though, or perhaps because, she’s taking no meds to treat any of these symptoms. Her appetite has returned. Many things taste different, but otherwise no trouble eating.
So now Laura’s main issues are the multiple daily migraines and dizziness, which is causing troubles for her getting around. Almost all the time Laura is quite unsteady. Sometimes she stumbles and she usually moves slowly, holding on as she goes.
To this end, we had a very good meeting with Laura’s neurologist today. He strongly suspects that it is a drug interaction that’s causing the problem because the symptom began after leaving the hospital with three new drugs. Over the next few weeks we’ll be working to eliminate and modify her drugs to try to figure out the culprit.
We’ll also be going to see a cardiologist because she’s got low blood pressure. Her chemo drug can have cardiac effects, although besides the low blood pressure she’s not showing any of the other classic signs of heart failure. Still we’ll follow up.
After reading this, many of you will probably come to the same theory as I had: that her low blood pressure is causing the dizziness. But while it may be contributing, it turns out that it’s probably not the main cause. After sitting with the neurologist for at least 20 minutes, a particular line of questions led to “Do you feel dizzy when you shake your head?” And Laura said, “Oh, I can’t do that.” And in a moment of “House” eureka, the doctor said, then it’s not low blood pressure!
It turns out that Laura feels dizzy whenever she makes any quick, sudden, or big movements. We joked about how it was a shame that she couldn’t unload the dishwasher because all the back and forth movement made her unsteady on her feet.
So it’s probably either an inner ear infection or a drug interaction.

It’s been wonderfully wintery over the holidays. I really will post some kid pics and such, but just haven’t had the time. I know some of you are experiencing withdrawal.
Lily returned to preschool today. And I’ll start accompanying Naomi to preschool for a few mornings per week starting next Monday. The staff and kids are thrilled as her reputation precedes her. (They haven’t seen her mischievous side, yet!)
We got about another 15 inches of snow over the last several days and it’s currently 1 degree outside and windy! But we’re warm and fine.