These last few days, other than some back pain, have been relatively good. I have been exhausted, but I had also forgotten that during this period, they usually send me home and I do nearly nothing other than crash on the futon for most of the day. Here, because the routine is the same, I did not get the psychological break that comes from going home. On the other hand, they caught my fever immediately, switched up my anti-biotics, and got it under control in under 12 hrs. Our previous schedule would have been me denying that I "really" had a fever, and 99 degrees was just an outlier, and we could go to the hospital tomorrow if it had gotten any worse during the night. (For unknown reasons, fevers seem to hit in the wee hours of the morning).
Inevitably, I would be sick, and Becky would drag my sorry carcass into Waldo General where they would stand around and look serious for 8 hours before sending me on an ambulance to Midcoast Maine, down in Brunswick. And then I would be stuck there for a week while they treat my now serious fever, and the high pain that comes with it. (although the pain would never seem to be connected directly to the fever - like now, my pain is in my pulled back. Go figure).
I got 4 units of blood today, as well as getting a unit of platelets. Thank all of you that donate blood and blood products. You, and people like you are literally keeping me alive. The gods only know what I can possibly be doing with needing 4 units of blood though? Where does it go? The human body only has about 10 units of blood total. Clearly there is some sort of leak. I try not to think about it too much.
I have my 2nd round of Rituxan tomorrow morning, but I am not too worried about it. It seems as though they have the routine down. Slow and steady has been the key. I will be fatigued again after the procedure and spend the next couple days mostly sleeping, but that is my primary job, and like almost every job, it sucks more than it is rewarding. And like a normal job, I have about 8 bosses (here they are called "the Team", which are my doctors.) They typically agree about 4/5th of the time, and so my treatment goes forward, but I never know what is coming up next. We have daily meetings in the morning, and I hear about what the plan is going to be, but typically the plan has changed by noon. Partly because of new blood work, but partly because there are so many people involved and it takes a little while for all the information and ramifications to come through - messages from the pharmacy and nurses for example.
Inevitably, I would be sick, and Becky would drag my sorry carcass into Waldo General where they would stand around and look serious for 8 hours before sending me on an ambulance to Midcoast Maine, down in Brunswick. And then I would be stuck there for a week while they treat my now serious fever, and the high pain that comes with it. (although the pain would never seem to be connected directly to the fever - like now, my pain is in my pulled back. Go figure).
I got 4 units of blood today, as well as getting a unit of platelets. Thank all of you that donate blood and blood products. You, and people like you are literally keeping me alive. The gods only know what I can possibly be doing with needing 4 units of blood though? Where does it go? The human body only has about 10 units of blood total. Clearly there is some sort of leak. I try not to think about it too much.
I have my 2nd round of Rituxan tomorrow morning, but I am not too worried about it. It seems as though they have the routine down. Slow and steady has been the key. I will be fatigued again after the procedure and spend the next couple days mostly sleeping, but that is my primary job, and like almost every job, it sucks more than it is rewarding. And like a normal job, I have about 8 bosses (here they are called "the Team", which are my doctors.) They typically agree about 4/5th of the time, and so my treatment goes forward, but I never know what is coming up next. We have daily meetings in the morning, and I hear about what the plan is going to be, but typically the plan has changed by noon. Partly because of new blood work, but partly because there are so many people involved and it takes a little while for all the information and ramifications to come through - messages from the pharmacy and nurses for example.
Hmmm....vampire? Probably time to find a right proper-sounding vampire name. The Vampire Leif sounds a little soft to me. Of course now with the twilight series there's the vampire Edward and the werewolf Jacob....so maybe it's all relative.
ReplyDeleteAnd stop leaking blood. It's just not very becoming of a proper vampire.
It's great to read you being, well, chatty, about such serious matters. It sounds like you're at a place or plateau where you know what it's all aiming at and are working with it as well as anyone ever could. I will be thinking positive Rituxan thoughts tomorrow morning and hoping it goes in/down/whatever it does smoothly and gently.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice being at an institution where they have blood and platelets on hand. In Maine, the docs would decide he needed platelets and order them up from Bangor or Lewiston, and three or four hours later they'd start transfusing them. Here, the docs decide he needs platlets, and half an hour later they're going into his IV. So he spends less time walking around with dangerously low hemoglobin or platelet levels. His petechiae are clearing up nicely and he hasn't been getting scary pale.
ReplyDeletePlatlets are only good for 5 days after donation, and the Red Cross can't waste them by shipping them to a remote hospital just in case someone might need them. So it's great to be located right where they get donated and stored.
Thinking of you both on this Halloween Night!
ReplyDelete- Bethany