I swear we have done all we can to make the end of March go smoothly. On Friday, I even had the suckage procedure done to deal with the ascites (abdominal fluid that sits on top of your organs) so that I could have a super awesome weekend. No more turtle-on-its-back struggling to get up, no more huffing around like a great huffing thing, and NO MORE LACK OF APPETITE! My dream was to make room for tasty vittles and get some good air-flow coming in for fun adventures.
So the hospital suckage team sucked with their vacuum sealed bottles and got out a full two liters like last time I had this done (two liters! That’s like carrying around a giant coke bottle on top of your belly! among other useful organs) and I have to tell you (skip if easily grossed out) it comes out looking just like beer. Not as dark as stout, more of a dark amber.
Gross.
We geared up for a weekend of awesomeness.
And then…
–a cold came on
–and a fever.
Bugger.
This completely wiped me out. Even with the addition of the usual pain/nausea dance I’ve been dealing with lately, this fatigue seemed out of proportion.
Which, as it turns out, it was. Test results came back yesterday with the news that:
–the abdominal infection I had is lingering (boo!)
–my potassium levels are low (hiss!)
–and, the kicker, my hemoglobin levels are uber low (triple boo hiss!)
But I figured I’m tough, so we started Round 2 of this new chemo regime yesterday anyway. Along with the addition of some bags of potassium and other minerals that could be boosted. It was a looooong day.
Now I just need to get some fresh blood in me ASAP. Yesterday, I couldn’t get in. Today, they only had a slot for one bag of blood. But tomorrow I finally got a spot. I’m scheduled for a full day of fun and relaxation at the blood transfusion center which I’ve been told is quite nice and that they even have TV. I get to sit back and lounge, while they bring on the blood. I’m thinking about bringing my iPod, a little Agatha Christie and maybe even some fun catalogs to pass the time.
A vampire should be so lucky.
Until then, I’m supposed to lay low and keep the hi-jinx to a minimum. If I get out breath (god forbid) or feel any chest pain, I have to go directly to the ER which I imagine is not such a fun place to get blood. That is where the crazy people hang out. It’s worse than the public library. (Librarian pals, you know what I’m talking about!)
At least we got to watch the entirety of Downton Abbey on Netflix over the weekened (thanks for the tip Gabe and Johanna!) and I was able to take advantage of my post suckage/pre-chemo appetite and get in lots of great Indian food.
April 1, I’m ready for you! I hope everyone else is managing to have a fab March. Or even a boring one. 🙂
Love to you all,
Bridget
Definitely stay out of the ER. Because you’re an emergency but not a super big emergency, so you get to wait.
Hope you feel better soon! I’m also anemic, but just the kind where you get to take gross black pills that make your insides feel like something inside you wants out.
I hope you are feeling better now.
I have Downton Abbey in my Netflix queue. I’m going to watch it as soon as I’m done with the newly-released season of Mad Men, which ought to be quick, since I cannot seem to stop watching it.
Jimmy Falon: “Thank you April showers for bringing May flowers and washing away March’s bullish*t”. Hang in there.