Yesterday, my sister, Fiona, who lives in Spain, flew in for a visit! I have not seen her for years, and it was a nice surprise that she was able to visit. She had some business state-side, and was able to fly up from Louisiana. I am so glad to be able to see her. She made me some lentil soup today which was delicious, and is helping look in on me as Becky is still sick with some sort of virus.
Today I had my double bone marrow biopsy. They thankfully put me completely under for that procedure, so it was not as painful as it sounds. I occasionally forget and scratch those places, or bump them into the wall, or otherwise touch them slightly and then I get a good taste of the pain. On Hyperbole and a half's pain scale it jumps up to an easy "6" which is described as "Ow! My pain is super legit now."
The pain from my infected and cut rear end is calming down, and while I still can not sit on it, I can sit on a cushion that presses near it, which I was unable to do a few days ago. It often has a pain level of "8" which Hyperbole and a half describes as "I am in a disturbing amount of pain, I might actually be dying. Please help." Fortunately I am hooked up to a device that allows me to have a dose of fentanyl whenever I need it. Fentanyl is like morphine on .... well, morphine.
Fentanyl is about 100 times stronger than morphine, although, of course they give me a lower dose. I can have a 25 mcg dose every 5 minutes up to 300 mcg every 12 hours. I never get close to 300 mcg though - 2 doses and I feel fine.
I have a lung biopsy on Thursday, which will be guided by the CT scan, which means that they have me in the CT scanner, and put the biopsy needle in a little way, check on the CT scan to see where it is exactly in my body, move it a little more, and repeat. There are some nodules that were found the last time I had a CT scan, and they want to check to see what they are. The possibilities are: lymphoma, infection, or inflammation. If it is lymphoma or inflammation then we will not worry about it, but if it is an infection it will be cultured and I will get some more antibiotic. I am currently on 5 different antibiotics / antifungals / antivirals. I think - I may have lost track. You would think that ought to do it, but some of these bacteria and fungi are very specific and resistant to everything except a specific drug.
In good news, my neutophils are back up, climbing every day now, and nearly normal. My platelets and hemoglobin is also climbing towards normal. My stem cell transplant is tentatively scheduled for January 28th. It depends on how the biopsies come out and whether the infection in my bottom gets under control. We will go ahead even if I have some infection left, but would be nice for it to be substantially better than it is now.
Today I had my double bone marrow biopsy. They thankfully put me completely under for that procedure, so it was not as painful as it sounds. I occasionally forget and scratch those places, or bump them into the wall, or otherwise touch them slightly and then I get a good taste of the pain. On Hyperbole and a half's pain scale it jumps up to an easy "6" which is described as "Ow! My pain is super legit now."
The pain from my infected and cut rear end is calming down, and while I still can not sit on it, I can sit on a cushion that presses near it, which I was unable to do a few days ago. It often has a pain level of "8" which Hyperbole and a half describes as "I am in a disturbing amount of pain, I might actually be dying. Please help." Fortunately I am hooked up to a device that allows me to have a dose of fentanyl whenever I need it. Fentanyl is like morphine on .... well, morphine.
 |
| Fentanyl: Mmm, beautiful benzene rings. |
Fentanyl is about 100 times stronger than morphine, although, of course they give me a lower dose. I can have a 25 mcg dose every 5 minutes up to 300 mcg every 12 hours. I never get close to 300 mcg though - 2 doses and I feel fine.
I have a lung biopsy on Thursday, which will be guided by the CT scan, which means that they have me in the CT scanner, and put the biopsy needle in a little way, check on the CT scan to see where it is exactly in my body, move it a little more, and repeat. There are some nodules that were found the last time I had a CT scan, and they want to check to see what they are. The possibilities are: lymphoma, infection, or inflammation. If it is lymphoma or inflammation then we will not worry about it, but if it is an infection it will be cultured and I will get some more antibiotic. I am currently on 5 different antibiotics / antifungals / antivirals. I think - I may have lost track. You would think that ought to do it, but some of these bacteria and fungi are very specific and resistant to everything except a specific drug.
In good news, my neutophils are back up, climbing every day now, and nearly normal. My platelets and hemoglobin is also climbing towards normal. My stem cell transplant is tentatively scheduled for January 28th. It depends on how the biopsies come out and whether the infection in my bottom gets under control. We will go ahead even if I have some infection left, but would be nice for it to be substantially better than it is now.
Oh my dears, you are both incredibly resilient and strong. And, I'm sending as much healing energy as I possibly can muster. Here's to a fully healed bottom and no more bumps by Jan 28th! much love, larkspur
ReplyDeleteThanks Larkspur. My stem cell transplant has been moved back, but probably not by much. We will see what happens with these "nodes" in my lungs.
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ReplyDeleteAfter all these months, I can finally comment again! So weird that my comments wouldn't show up for the last several months and that now they're working again.
ReplyDeleteThank-you so much for the updates, Leif (and Becky, too!!). It's hard for me to believe all that you're going through.
Maybe I'll finally get my care package in the mail to you today (now that the magazines are out of date--arghh--why am I so lousy at getting things in the mail?!).
I'm making headway on my personal health stuff and there's more I can do, so if I do that stuff more headway is likely. You're a great inspiration to me with your incredible stick-to-it-ive-ness. Of course, I completely support you in falling apart, too, since apparently that, too, has benefits. (I still gotta find that quote for you.)
Much love, Mitch
Yay Mitch!
DeleteSo glad to hear from you and that you can comment on my blog now. I don't know what might have happened to make it different, so we will just celebrate instead. Sorry I have not had a chance to respond to your emails for a while. I have tried to keep the blog updated when I have had the energy.
That's good news in three of the last four or five posts. You're spoiling me. I like to be spoiled. Please keep it up.
ReplyDeleteI'll keep my fingers crossed for Jan 28.
I will spoil you even more with today (the 19ths) post. :)
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