Sunday, August 30th
I reported back for my second round of Interleukin and felt pretty confident since I did so well with the first treatment. Unfortunately, I was completely wrong. My first round of Interleukin I actually slept through the first 4 injections. I thought it was just because I was tough. :) Not the case.
I found out the hard way during the second round your body recognizes the chemicals immediately and starts the side effects asap.
On the very first injection, I was violently sick. Each injection made me worse and worse. By the 4th injection, I was ready to stop. The inside of my mouth felt like it was on fire and I started seeing images that weren’t there.
The team of doctors came in and we collectively decided to rest through the next 8 hour treatment and see how I felt when I woke up.
When I woke, I did feel better and decided to continue with treatment. I was able to get through 6 injections total which is great I was told. They stopped them due to severe hallucinations. I can remember watching television and the sides of the tv were falling to the ground like a waterfall. When they realized I was watching that instead of the tv, they stopped treatment.
Even though this treatment is hard, side effects are always a good sign that the treatment is working! This recovery has been very difficult with my energy levels, nausea, and dizziness. Physically, I’m down 30lbs, but I can share clothes with my 16 year old brother at least. :)
I go back on august 31st for scans to find out if this is working or not. If it is, I immediately go into another round of Interleukin. If it’s not working, we set a date for the big treatment we initially discussed. Please keep your fingers crossed, keep praying, keep putting those good vibes out there, whatever it is your into. It’s all working!
I will post immediately when I get the results!
Also, a special thanks from Elizabeth and I, to Abby, Sean, Andy, Jessica, and everyone involved in the benefit tonight in Charleston. I can’t tell you what it means to have friends helping me through this that I haven’t seen in months, 10 hours away at that!
Nathan
