Yesterday, the doctors did a lot of changes in medication trying to control my symptoms. The doctor said that the first two doses of the one drug had a small chance that I may trip out a little bit and see things that aren't there. It was about 6:45 pm when Barb left, after making sure I was set for the night. I was dog-tired. The lights were off, the curtains were closed, and I fell right asleep. The next thing I knew, there was a nurse in my room and I looked at the clock - 7:30. It was the proper lighting for evening or morning in my room, and I commented to the nurse, "Wow! I can't believe I slept the whole night through without moving!" And the nurse looked at me and said, "It's 7:30 in the evening!" We both laughed after that. I got my wish for a good night's rest...
We were happy to see white blood cells go up to 0.7 this morning! My hemoglobin was 74 and platelets were <10. While receiving my platelet transfusion this morning, I got the shakes quite badly. The nurses think it was a minor reaction to the platelets, so they stopped the transfusion and ran Benadryl by IV. I was given Tylenol and then they started the platelet transfusion again more slowly. After receiving that much Benadryl, I was groggy for the next few hours.
The post-platelet blood test at 11:00 am was disappointing. My platelets only went up to 14 after the transfusion. But what was really surprising was that my hemoglobin was now at 66 (from 74 earlier this morning!) and so I received one unit of blood. I spent most of the day running a fever and receiving meds to control pain/fever/infection, so I pretty much slept for most of the day.
I had a doctor come visit me from Infectious Diseases. They can't do anything to confirm the fungus in my lungs (such as a biopsy) because my platelets are so low. The fungal pneumonia I have is completely common and harmless to most of us in most situations. However, in my case, I have had such low neutrophils (white blood cells) for such a long time that I am highly susceptible to catching anything and this fungus was able to form nodules in my lungs. So far, the only symptom of pneumonia I have is fever; I have no coughing or phlegm from it. The anti-fungal medication I'm receiving is fairly strong. Once engraftment gets stronger, my new white blood cells will get in on the action and clean it up much quicker.
I've been struggling with nausea quite a bit in the last few days so I've been given more meds for that. Therefore, my eating has not been good lately either. Barb has been bringing different food in to try and help me through it. It is a daily struggle.
Barb and I have been reading The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom together. Barb reads sections of the book out loud to me. We've been encouraged by Corrie's testimony and strength in the midst of trial.
"When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don't throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the Engineer." ~ Corrie ten Boom
3 comments:
What a beautiful quote you included. Hope that you will soon have your wish for a full night's sleep and we pray for all infections and other complications respond well to counter measures taken. Above all, that you may continue to trust and hope that all will be well.
Hello Richard and Barb: We have been following your blog for some time now. We are Theo and Diane and we remember when Brandon had pneumonia during his longest hospital stay, he didn't recover very quickly until his neutrophils were above 1.0 (not neutropenic). Your counts are now going the right way and I'm sure God will continue to provide his blessings in this way as well. We are praying for you.
Just found another story we follow and pray for: 2 kids, a minivan and a mortgage, the miracle of a now 7 year old named Lucy Krull. She had 3 tumors in her brain and one on her spine, was in a coma 10 days etc. Listen/watch, and be blessed at what God is able to do. We pray He does it for you!! Rev. & Bev
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