twists and turns, another angle

Alice is one incredible woman. Not only that, we frequently think alike. I was planning on titling this twists and turns but you-know-who beat me to it.

So, here's how things played out from my side. They woke me at 4am Wednesday for the usual vital statistics, BP, temp, O2 levels and pulse. Turned out I had a fever, again. Now, to hospital folks 100.5 means fever and they handle it aggressively. Mine was 102.x. Within an hour I was on IV antibiotics and had blood and urine samples taken. A few hours later, I had a chest xray. Oh, and the worst thing was a nasal swab, where they shove a long Q-tip type thing up your nose and twist it around. Not something you'd want to have done to you.

When they started taking all the samples, Ida also mentioned that my red cells and platelets were also coming up. My white cell count took a giant leap from 1.4 to 5! As a reminder, it was 7 when I was admitted. That put me at a calculated ANC (don't ask) of 496...go home day is based on ANC crossing over 500. I was told that I'd be going home Thursday.

In the long run, that swab was priceless. It identified a virus. RSV, which is not uncommon in children. So, they know how to handle it...5-7 days, I'll be tented for a few hours a day while they give me Ribavirin. (the Emory wi-fi system seems to be down or I'd provide links).

So, now I find out from a nurse I'd never seen before that moment that I'm in for 5-7 more days...okay, I can handle that. However, he then continued with the fact that I'm moving. I knew it wasn't his fault and he was really helpful, dragging this huge cart that could hold ALL of my stuff.

I was definitely wiped out from the packing and moving. One of the symptoms of RSV is shortness of breath. I felt bad calling Alice but we'd agreed that she wants to be helpful in any way possible. I had packed some things away that I'd need overnight. Alice took care of those and then went home. As you can see from her posting below, she'd already had a busy day, starting off joining me for breakfast.

I go to sleep after another round of IV antibiotics and all sorts of pills. When I started this adventure, I began a medication log; I've given up on that. The last thing before lights out was a 4-5 hour drip of IV IG, immunoglobulin, that they give for viruses.

Apparently, they periodically up the drip rate. Around 1am or so, they raised the rate a tad, from 40 to 55 mililiters/hour. By 1:15 or so, I woke up to my entire body shivering and a feeliing of horrible cold. I hit the nurse call button and the nurse came in, She took one look at me, asked a few questions and left. Next, about a half-dozen interns (think Grey's Anatomy's first season) come into my room. They can't get my O2 readings but my BP is 145/90. It's usually on the low side, like 100/65. I counted 5 blankets on me this morning; they were sure trying to ease my discomfort.. They put an oxygen mask on me and the interns went away.

What's interesting about all this though is I discovered the heat in the room had never been turned on; it's a research center and there's frequently empty rooms! I don't know what the temp was in here but maybe I wasn't crazy...maybe it was actually cold...I know, more denial.

So the doc just left...after telling me that the blood culture showed some staph which probably means more drugs...blessings go to whoever invented this port thing in my chest. Imagine them just screwing and unscrewing these drug bags together and then connecting them to me the same way. They're also going to restart the IV IG at the lower rate.

This morning, I'm awakened by a transport person waiting to take me for a CT scan of my chest...rude awakening. But, the scan looked clean.

Sometime this morning, my temp is back up to about 102. A few hours later, I realized I'm hungry and ate my cold breakfast. Too bad it was supposed to be hot. Lunchtime, I felt like I had an appetite. I think I ate at least some of everything they brought. I think I mentioned earlier that when I have no appetite, it's time to be concerned. For it to return, feels good.

Oh yeah. and in the middle of all this craziness, I found out that my greatest masseuse ever is closing down her practice. Now you have to understand that this relationship is about so much more than just massage. It's the state of mind that lets her know all the places where you hurt. I understand and support her reasons; they're honorable and have her long-term goals in mind. She's a wonderful woman who I've told people about but never given out her name because I was afraid she'd be too busy to see me anymore.

Talk about a bummer day.