January 23, 2009

Here are today's labs
Date------Day----WBC----ANC--------Hgb--------PLT---- Transfusions
12 Jan----132----0.7-------448-------9.5-----------117--------------N/A
15 Jan---135-----0.3------0-------7.9/9.4-----------35--1 Unit of Blood
19 Jan---139-----0.2------0----------8.2-------2/35-1 Unit of Platelets
20 Jan---140-----0.2------0----------7.7---------26----2 Units of Blood
21 Jan---141-----0.3------0----------9.5----------17----------------N/A
22 Jan---142-----0.7-----443---------9.0------13/43--1 Unit of Platelets
23 Jan--143-----1.8----1400---------8.5----------38----------------N/A

Benefit Scheduled for Tomorrow Saturday, January 24, 2008
Marcus & I used to be on the Advisory Board & I was also the Treasurer for the London Assembly #208 Rainbow Girls when Katie & Paige were active in Rainbow. Mom Wendy Hall, Mother Advisor from The London Assembly #208 Rainbow Girls contacted me a few months ago & expressed that they wanted to do this Spaghetti Dinner Benefit for me on January 24th from 5:00 pm-7:00 pm at the Chandler Lodge located at 65 North Main Street, London Ohio. The Menu will be Spaghetti, sauce with meatballs, bread & butter, salad with dressing & a drink for $5.00. Desserts will be available for a donation & you can dine in or carryout is available.It is my understanding that Kroger donated most of the food for this Benefit & National City has raised money as well. If you would like any information please contact Keith Hall @ 614-302-0431or airforcekeith@sbcglobal.net

I talked with Mom Wendy this morning I am so excited about the Benefit & yet I am so bummed I cannot be there in person. I will be there in spirit. Marcus & all the kids will be there but Brandon he has another wrestling tournament. He told me he would miss it if I wanted him to but I told him no the Benefit is only 2 hours the tournament is an all day event & he should go to that it would be more fun for him. I am making Marc take the video camera so I can see it & me & Brandon can watch it together later.
This is Aunt Bonnie & I before she left yesterday I miss her so much already!

Yesterday I was here all day with no tests performed. Carli was not here & I got a conflicting lab report from her replacement that said one of the cultures showed Strep but when they cultured it, it was negative. My RN that was treating me was in my face most of the morning doing my blood draws & meds. By lunch time she had a nasty little cough & did not put a mask on, I asked her to & she said it was just a little tickle in the back of her throat & she would never jeopardise her patients, I told Marc to get me a mask. She would come to my room without it on or it hanging on her chin more than once so I had to tell her about it. Well I have her again today & she still has that cough but she is wearing her mask all day.

Dr Flynn came in & asked where my Aunt was, he wanted to know if he made her upset talking about her niece, I told him yes, he said & you looked like you wanted to hit me & I told him I did he said you are not supposed to agree with me Sandi & I told him look I am really sick & I don't need that from him his supposed to treat me medically not make me his joke & that I was tired of it from him. He did not have much to say when I told him that hopefully he will be a little more respectful now & just do his job.

I had minimal sleep again last night, I sleep in 10-15 minute intervals & wake up throughout the night. Last night they came in & drew a viral specimen & sent it to the lab, the day shift is saying the lab never got it. Marcus was up here first thing again today. I am so grateful because today held so much pain & drama that I don't think I would be holding up as well as I am without him.

I am still receiving the same 3 antibiotics & fighting the fevers. Carli was back today YES! I told her the latest news flash I have diarrhea today so I could possibly have C-Dif or VRE or it could be from the antibiotics were not sure they cultured that. I also expressed to her all my concerns from the nurses not wearing masks & gloves to Dr. Flynn's arrogance with me, my missed appointments for tests from the nurses not paying attention to my orders, the fact that I have been here 5 days & no one knows what is wrong with me & I am still having these high grade fevers etc. Carli had already talked to the Charge nurse on this floor Wed & she went & talked to her again. Carli is trying to get me moved up to the 10th floor where they are used to really sick patients & they follow the precautions because they know how dangerous it is first hand. She is also ordering me a CAT Scan of the Chest & talking with Dr. Flynn because he has not ordered anymore tests & it appears he is no longer looking for what is wrong with me. Carli told me that every single Blood Culture they have done so far has come back negative. Obviously something is causing these fevers & they need to find out what that something is. So I should get to talk with her later this evening to see what she found out.

In the mean time I had a real rough afternoon today at the hospital. Dr. Flynn ordered my PICC to be removed & tested to see if it was the source of the infection. I did not realize how huge the line was. The specimen for the lab is 6 inches. So that left me with only the peripheral line they put in the other day & My 2 PICC lines have been continuously in use since Monday 24/7 with fluids & therapy drugs. Speaking of which I got 4 grams of magnesium today via IV. So the nurse that coughs got to take out my PICC, she has never done one from the arm before only the chest so they brought in the float nurse to watch her & make sure she does it right. She actually did pretty good except she got blood all over the bed because she did not have the specimen container close by.
.After that was done the float nurse had to put in 2 more peripheral IV lines. I really do have a hard time with needles. I tolerated the first one pretty good. He had a real hard time finding another good vein & when he did he could not get a good flashback so he looked around for another one & tried for a second time & could not get it, he dug only a little but it hurt so bad I was starting to tear up & he stopped. They are using the old peripheral line I got 3 days ago in the mean time. I am still going to have to get stuck daily every time they need labs drawn & since I only have 2 lines odds are they will be back to put the third one in. The only bad thing is these lines are only good for a few days & they have to be moved. The meds that I am getting are so powerful I hope they do not infiltrate or I will be in a lot more pain.

There really is no way around any of this. I just hated to lose my PICC as inconvenient as it was to have & I lost a lot of right arm strength over the past 5 months it has saved me hundreds if not a thousand needle sticks seriously.


So I got my CAT Scan done & hopefully Carli will have some good news for me later!