Saturday ~ 8 August: Day 21

Skipped a few days blogging. You know what they say about the best laid plans. Tuesday afternoon they tripled my dose of Valtrex. That afternoon I started feeling not just right. I was supposed to get to skip OTU Clinic on Wednesday and Thursday, but it was obvious by Wednesday noon that I needed to go in. I was having severe stomach cramping and nausea, as well as being very dizzy and weak. Mike was debating whether to take me to the wheel chair entrance, since he wasn't sure I could walk from Central Garage to the clinic. I wanted to try to get there under my own steam so we went our usual route. Had to stop and sit a couple of times along the way, and I was really huffing and puffing, but I did make it to the clinic on my own two feet. Whew.

My vitals were a little high, but not out of normal range, but because of the stomach issues they gave me Zophran by IV. That didn't help much and while they were waiting for labs I started throwing up. I hate to throw up. Yuck! When that was finally over, I did start feeling better. They then gave me compazine by IV. My labs came back showing my red blood was low (we knew it was) and they decided I needed to get a unit of those. That took several hours because I had to be typed and crossed before hand. Then they sent me back to the apartment with instructions on adding extra Nexium, compazine, or ativan by mouth, if necessary. Oh, and I had to go back to clinic on Thursday. Sniff. So much for my two days off. They wanted me to write down everything I was able to eat, though it wasn't much.

Thursday I was back to clinic. Still not back to normal, but improving. We have a new plan. Instead of taking a handful of pills all at once, I'm spacing out the morning meds over about 30-45 minutes. The transfusion really helped. I was still feeling weak, but not huffing and puffing like I was. Amazing what a few red blood cells will do for you. Labs showed my magnesium levels were low, so I got a dose of that and then got released. During the afternoon I continued to improve, but still not back to normal.

Friday morning I woke up actually feeling quasi normal again. Best I had felt in several days. I was able to not just walk in to the clinic on my own, but was also able to carry my laptop bag. Yea!!! All my labs looked good so we were done with clinic fairly quickly. Because I was still not back to normal on eating and how my stomach felt, they scheduled me for an upper GI endoscopy on Tuesday of next week. And they gave me the weekend off from clinic, with all the usual caveats. On Monday they will decide if I really need to get the test or not. Right now it is scheduled for 11:30 Tuesday. I have to be there at 10:00, NPO after midnight. I kept improving during the afternoon and last night was finally able to eat an almost normal dinner.

Today I woke up feeling good. Still kind of weak, though. I am working my way through my morning yoga exercises. Mike has gone for a walk to check out green spaces for us both to go walking.

So a few little setbacks, but I am not complaining. I have enough platelets I can do my yoga again. I have enough white cells and neutrophils that I can go see Julie/Julia if I go to a matinée with not a lot of people. It's showing at the Regal Green Hills and I'm thinking we might be able to go on Monday afternoon. No theatre popcorn though! Who knows when and how they cleaned their machine? I don't have enough neutrophils for that! Red cells will come along in time and the stomach issues seem to be under control. Life is good.

On a totally different subject, were she still alive, my Aunt Jean would be 81 today. Jean was my Papa's younger sister. I used to go stay with her when I was a little girl, and even as an older girl, and we would tell everyone she was my Mom. We looked amazingly alike. This is my aunt who let me eat birthday cake for breakfast and who would keep me up all night watching old movies - Fred Astaire, Humphrey Bogart, Katherine Hepburn. I got my love of old movies from her. And learned that "the rules" were sometimes made to be broken. Happy Birthday, Aunt Jean. I miss you.

namasté,