July 15th - July 21st

After 2 blissful nights in our new home I've had a little set back. I was cruising along with little to no side effects from treatment until the afternoon of Wednesday, July 15th:

Wednesday, July 15th:

I woke up Wednesday feeling good. Throughout this process I've continued to work as is allowed with appointments, treatments, etc. I was working on Wednesday and after I took a break for lunch and to hang out with Avani & Anya for a bit I started to feel a bit off (slight headache, fatigue, cough). This got worse over the afternoon and around 5pm I was feeling pretty shitty (and now very warm). I took my temperature and I had a temperature of 102. I immediately sent a text to my Oncologist (already knowing what her response was going to be). I had already begun to pack up my backpack by the time she responded. Load up the car! Family trip to the ER. I haven't mentioned this yet but I'm at Northwestern hospital in Chicago so of course we have now moved to the burbs and have to commute in! I was admitted in the ER and around 2am was transferred to my new room in which I was to spend at least 1 day in.

Thursday, July 16th:

More transfusions, blood draws, tests etc. FINALLY, the effects of the chemo had got me. My blood levels were all over the place especially my white blood cells in this instance. The point of chemo is to kill all of the cancer cells in your body...unfortunately, it kills all cells in your body good and bad. I had basically been stripped of ALL my white blood cells (which is your immunity). The Dr.'s were effectively infection hunting since I had the fever. They need to ensure I have no infections as that could be deadly to me at this point. I did have another fever on Thursday as well. One of the criteria for my release will be to have no fevers over a 48hr period.

Friday, July 17th:

No fever today! No sign of infection anywhere! Things are trending up!!! I might go home on the weekend!!!

Saturday, July 18th:

Oh shit, the fever is back! Start the 48 hour clock over! Additionally, the cough that I mentioned above has gotten a lot worse over the past 2 days. A new X-ray was taken that night and they discovered that I had some fluid in my left lung (GREAT!). I needed to have a procedure to drain the fluid so they could test that to find out why it happened and again to ensure the is no infection there. The trick now is that my platelet level for this procedure has to at a certain level that of course I'm not at...begin the platelet transfusions!

Sunday, July 19th:

Another fever again today...booooo. Platelets not where they need to be for procedure, another 2 bags of platelets to be transfused that night. This time, after probably 20+ transfusions I had an allergic reaction....lots of hives and itching. I did get the entire 1st bag which was good, but had to cancel the 2nd.....hoping this is enough to push me over!

Monday, July 20th:

I awoke early and the Pulmonary Dr. called early as well. Turns out the platelet counts were where they needed to be. I would be having my procedure w/in the next couple of hours. The procedure was bedside and didn't take long. Unfortunately, the way I was posed during the procedure caused my entire left shoulder area to cramp up. I had to sit through the procedure like that as I had a giant needle draining fluid out of my lungs! Like most of these procedures and blood draws, there are many tests that are run on the fluid/blood and the time frame for results ranges from a few hours to up to a week! I got an initial report back at the end of the day that said everything is looking good initially, but that's about it. During Monday afternoon I was sitting in my chair and all of the sudden I got an excruciating, shooting pain in my shoulder. I am a person who does not like to take medicine but had to take something for this as it was that painful. Up to this point there has not been anything physically painful....that has all changed now as I'm feeling better from other ailments!    

Tuesday, July 21st:

Today, my final update to be caught up - actually I'll have one more short one right after this! No fevers again (up to this point). Now I just need that bone marrow to wake up and start producing WBC's. The only other eventful updates to make about today is that Maneesha worked from my room today so that was great and I began to 'exercise' the other day, so walked a mile around my floor. For those that don't know....exercise boosts your immune system, so get out there if you're not!