Debbie,

I am sorry to hear about Jo's rash. I wish she did not have to deal with another delay of consolidation. During Induction I had a severe reaction to vancamyican (sp) and developed "red man syndrome". I had a rash on my chest and head-horrid experience.

Julie

I had a rash, but it was from gvhd, they gave me a steroid cream and it cleared right up, I will check and see what it is called and post it up. Only took a couple of days to get better, maybe she can try that and not delay the consolidation.

DaveJ

im sure the doctors know what shingles looks like and would have said if it was but mum got a annoying case of it after her treatment had finished.

I had a rash almost totally all over my body. It was during chemo and probably caused by the low blood numbers not kicking out something that they normally would. I do not trust skin treatments so I just put a little they gave me on a 2 inch diameter circle where I could watch it. The next morning that spot was clear. Needless to say, I pretty much slopped it all over after that. So for sure, get her to try it in a limited area first. I had two creams -- one was for itching and the other was supposed to clear it up. If her numbers are up and being this far from chemo, this is quite strange. It is tough to get through but I would guess it will only be there another 5-10 days. Thanks -- dave

The stuff they gave me for the rash is Triamcinolone 0.1% Cream. It works really good, I am using it again because my skin is itchy after they took me completely of the Medrol. Hope she is doing better.

Dave J

I developed a rash during treatment. Ended up that I was allergic to the hospital tape (waterproof)that was over my pic line. Soloution was a steroid cream and dry bandages over my pic line with daily dressing changes
Lisa

My husband had a rash that started during his first consolidation. they biopsied it and all that came back was some sort of folliculitis. They gave him antifungal cream and shampoo (to see if it was fungal) and it cleared up. When he stopped the shampoo for a few days it started coming back. They kept him on the shampoo for the next 3 rounds of chemo and the rash never came back. He used the shampoo during showers all over his body, but discontinued the cream after the rash initially cleared up. Best of luck!

Julie

Thanks everyone! Aussiemum, they did check her for shingles because she thought that's what it was at first.

The rash started Saturday and they gave her some medicine, I think it was some kind of steroid, and a cream on Tuesday. It is clearing up and she says she has a lot of energy :) That's one good thing to come out of it at least. If it continues to clear, they will try to start chemo again tomorrow although for some reason her platelets dropped from 60 to 53 but they will do lab again tomorrow and hopefully they are back up enough. Those dang platelets!

Those dang platelets! Jo is doing what I did, I would work and work to get to the platelet number I needed-100. I never made it that high but when I would get close to the nineties, my med team would say next week you'll get there. Every time, my numbers would drop 10 or more, they'd give me a BMB to make sure I was still clear and I'd get my consolidation. It became the norm for me. Do not fear, she'll get there. What did they do to rule out shingles?

Julie

She said they just looked at it to determine it wasn't shingles. She thought it might be because it was so painful. She did get to start chemo on Friday and finished this round last night. Not feeling well at all but that is to be expected.

Debbie
Was just checking in, How's Jo feeling???

Praying for Jo-Hope she is doing well

Julie

Jo had lab today. Platelets 4, blood 7, wbc .2 so she is not feeling well at all. Blood and platelets today should help. She has been very down lately and doesn't want to finish her treatments. She wants to stop at three and monitor and see if that is enough.

Her husband and the rest of the family has told her that is not an option. I tell her about all the good outcomes on here and how well you guys are doing but she finds it hard to see any light at the end of the tunnel. She is so tired and she says it hurts for us to even hug her on days when we can. I am very gentle and don't squeeze. Hope her spirits will bounce back soon! :(

Debbie,

You already know what my response is to Jo stopping at three consolidations-heck no. I hope she understands that there are no guarantees of remission after relapse (heaven forbid). She needs to gut this out and see this through-I know that is easier said than done. The first remission is the best remission. I am so sorry she is dealing with pain and depression. Has she been offered any counseling or anti depressant/anxiety meds. These meds are standard protocol where I'm treated and really helped me while I was in the heat of the battle. I will pray for Jo

Julie

I'm not sure but I think she is already taking some. Maybe they need to change it or increase the dose but my sister is very adamant about not taking any more meds than she absolutely has to, she has always been like this. I know that her pain must be pretty bad because she would never take pain meds, even after her hysterectomy or through all of her frequent kidney stones, she didn't take anything stronger than Tylenol. So my gut feeling is that she is probably not taking what they gave her. She is not a very good patient but working in a physician's office, she has seen all kinds of things with patients and their meds.