Where to begin?
I had lovely visits from Peter and mum and a call from steph today.
I guess that is the good news.
The rest of the story is not as nice.
My white count is way up again. My hemoglobin is way down. We still do not know why I have the shortness of breath, the chest pain or the joint pain.
In an attempt to open my airways I received a nebulizer treatment in the early morning. These should normally last from 8 to 10 minutes. I made it for almost five minutes before violently hurling. Maybe it was the lack of food since yesterday afternoon. Had breakfast (that story is a doozy) and tried again a couple hours after - made it almost two minutes this time. The verdict - no more nebulizers.
Breakfast - they forgot to bring me any. Once that was sorted out I ended up with cold grits, rancid eggs, dry toast, a banana, apple juice and warm skim milk. Yum.
Then for the fun of the day - a blood draw for type and cross match so I can receive 2 units of blood. Another bag of antibiotics, and then we started the first unit of blood which promptly blew the 18 gauge IV. Stop everything and quest for a new IV spot. Problem... all my veins decided to play duck and cover. On the second try, my nurse hit one. New problem- the new spot is at the crook of my elbow making it highly painful and rather inadvisable to bend that joint. This is called "stiff-arm syndrome" and makes it difficult to adjust clothing.
The rest of the transfusion went fairly smooth other than the IV machine beeping frequently for air in the lines.
My doctor came by to tell me the icky white cell count results - we are adding another two units of antibiotics and more tests. He also called in a cardiologist and a gyn.
The cardiologist wants another echocardiogram and a sonogram of my heart. He also ordered meds to slow my heartbeat - it has consistently been over 100bpm since this began.
The gyn wants a sonogram to evaluate the constant blood loss.
I will have all of those tests tomorrow along with blood work to evaluate the success of the transfusions and antibiotics.
Right now I have the second unit of blood pouring into my veins. After the first unit, I was given meds to help remove excess fluids. That was interesting - see difficulty in adjusting clothing and keeping my arm straight.
I suppose it all boils down to: I'm a pincushion, we don't know what, specifically, is wrong, and I'm not getting out of here anytime soon.
I had lovely visits from Peter and mum and a call from steph today.
I guess that is the good news.
The rest of the story is not as nice.
My white count is way up again. My hemoglobin is way down. We still do not know why I have the shortness of breath, the chest pain or the joint pain.
In an attempt to open my airways I received a nebulizer treatment in the early morning. These should normally last from 8 to 10 minutes. I made it for almost five minutes before violently hurling. Maybe it was the lack of food since yesterday afternoon. Had breakfast (that story is a doozy) and tried again a couple hours after - made it almost two minutes this time. The verdict - no more nebulizers.
Breakfast - they forgot to bring me any. Once that was sorted out I ended up with cold grits, rancid eggs, dry toast, a banana, apple juice and warm skim milk. Yum.
Then for the fun of the day - a blood draw for type and cross match so I can receive 2 units of blood. Another bag of antibiotics, and then we started the first unit of blood which promptly blew the 18 gauge IV. Stop everything and quest for a new IV spot. Problem... all my veins decided to play duck and cover. On the second try, my nurse hit one. New problem- the new spot is at the crook of my elbow making it highly painful and rather inadvisable to bend that joint. This is called "stiff-arm syndrome" and makes it difficult to adjust clothing.
The rest of the transfusion went fairly smooth other than the IV machine beeping frequently for air in the lines.
My doctor came by to tell me the icky white cell count results - we are adding another two units of antibiotics and more tests. He also called in a cardiologist and a gyn.
The cardiologist wants another echocardiogram and a sonogram of my heart. He also ordered meds to slow my heartbeat - it has consistently been over 100bpm since this began.
The gyn wants a sonogram to evaluate the constant blood loss.
I will have all of those tests tomorrow along with blood work to evaluate the success of the transfusions and antibiotics.
Right now I have the second unit of blood pouring into my veins. After the first unit, I was given meds to help remove excess fluids. That was interesting - see difficulty in adjusting clothing and keeping my arm straight.
I suppose it all boils down to: I'm a pincushion, we don't know what, specifically, is wrong, and I'm not getting out of here anytime soon.
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