December 6, 2008

Date------Day----WBC----ANC--------Hgb--------PLT---- Transfusions
28 Nov------87----2.2-----1,500-------9.9--------286------------N/A
1 Dec------90----3.4------2,270------10.0--------255------------N/A
2 Dec------91----4.0------3,500------10.5--------250------------N/A
3 Dec------92----5.0------4,400-------9.5--------183------------N/A
4 Dec------93----4.4------3,800-------9.2--------196------------N/A
5 Dec------94----3.5------3,400-------9.3--------170------------N/A
6 Dec------95----3.9----Unknown----9.9--------175------------N/A

Marc brought up Paige & Zack last night to see me. Katie was not feeling well & did not want to come up. Brandon went to a funeral viewing for one of his wrestling team members grandmother. We went down to the cafeteria here at the James & got dinner, it was ok but not like home cooked meal that's for sure. Zack was wired for sound all night, I think Marc was a little irritated with him, depending on the day he can test the patience of Job. He had my nurses cracking up in the room. Zack had a question about everything, especially when my nurse was hooking up my chemo, does that shot hurt, where is the blood at etc.


My Dr. brought in my letter for disability while we were down at the cafeteria, it was the one from a few months ago so it is all messed up & not current info so I have to get her to fix it this morning before I leave. I was hoping this does not delay my release to much, it is about 10:30am & there is still no sign of her or my Nurse Practitioner. So it is not looking good for an on time release. Typically I have my draft discharge packet & everything the day before. Since I am not on the 10th floor with the their leukemia patients everything has been a little behind.

The nurse yesterday started to change my PICC dressing & I had to walk her through how to do it. She did not have the right kit & was just going to secure it with steri stips & no stat lock. I sent her up to the 10th floor to go get a Stat Lock while I held gauze in place over the insertion site for 15 minutes. If I don't have a Stat Lock in place to secure the lone down it will pull right out of my arm & that would be very bad. Needless to say I was sitting there thinking I hope I do not get a staph infection from this, since the site was fully exposed for so long. When she came back with the stuff she said they know you up on 10 so I did not have a problem. She was just going to put the stat lock on & not clean it again so I had to make her clean it again. At this point I was ready to tell her to give me the kit & I would do it myself. Unfortunately I am not ambidextrous so realistically I know I would need some help, we finally got it done. I took a shower afterwards & my skin is getting so sensitive to the tape, when I took the wrap off some skin came off with the tape. It hurt like hell & has been burning every time I touch it, I am surprised my skin has held up this long tough so I should not complain.

At 8:30am they hung my final dose of HIDAC for this cycle of my chemotherapy. At this rate paperwork pending of course I should realistically get released around noonish. Marc is at Brandon's first wrestling meet in Circleville so Kim is going to come get me once I am cleared. She had to go into work today so that worked out pretty well, so Marc would not have to leave Bubby's tournament. I think Marc loves watching Bubby wrestle just about as much as he loves wrestling.

I am so glad they got the heat issues fixed in my room last night. I turned the dial down to 68 to help me deal with the sweats & for the most part it worked. I can always throw on another blanket to get warm but when it is hot, all you can do is wait it out. So it was a nice change having a few cold chills for once this week instead of the hot flashes, I can't believe I am saying that but after this week as Misty says, "It is what it is". Last night except for the 4 Nurse & PCA mandated wake up calls for my vitals, drawing my labs & completing neruo assessments I slept hard last night. On a side note I am sure you you can tell from the pictures, but I am putting weight on like crazy, this should be the least of my worries I know. This morning they had me at 188 pounds. I was 173 when I came in on Monday so what I put on is this week is mostly water weight but I am going to have a heck of a time trying to get back into my regular clothes. I have been so inactive for the past 3 months I started noticed before I came in for this cycle everything that was loose is starting to get pretty tight. In time I will be able to resume some physical activity but for now I just have to take it easy.

So the for plan tonight is as long as I don't bottom out on energy Marc will go with me to my squadrons Christmas party for an hour or two. he has never been to one so I am anxious for him to meet my military family not to mention I am really looking forward to seeing everyone as well, I do miss my unit very much. Zack heard us talking about it last night & said he wants to go, SMSgt Fowle's has 4 kids & a couple of them are always there to babysit, so we may take him with us I am sure he would have fun to. Speaking of my unit I did call the AMDS & Doc Ellis is supposed to be reviewing my packet this weekend, I hope to hear something positive out of it, I do not know how long it is going to take to get my profile reduced so I can at least participate in light administrative duties, but I am hoping it is not to long. At the rate I am going I will be back to part time employment at ODH by February if all follows the time line my Dr. has projected for me. We shall see...