Five days. I really hate hospitals! I can't imagine what it would be like if I was actually sick! That's probably the only thing that's keeping me sane.
I just got back from a long walk around the hospital with Sarah. We bumped into Dr D'Souza (who's my haematologist) and then later another haematologist who treated me two weeks ago when I had chemo, Both were surprised at how well I look and that I was up and around.
Sarah shaved my hair really short this morning. It was getting to the point that just scratching my head caused a dozen or more strands to shed.
That lump under my chin doesn't seem any worse and the Doctors have now concurred with me that it's more likely a swollen lymph (rather than saliva) gland. (A quick poke around just now and I think I've convinced myself that may even be getting smaller)
My blood counts have started to mobilise right on cue. They doubled overnight and if they follow the pattern of the previous two chemo cycles, they will grow exponentially over the next 36 hours. This means that there is a high probability that we will harvest tomorrow. I had hoped we would have a white count of 1.0 today which is the minimum for a safe harvest but it is 0.26 and my platelets are at 20.
We can transfuse platelets to get us up to the 50 needed for safe harvest but you can't transfuse white blood cells. (The figures are kind of mathematical abbreviations. 50 is in fact 50,000 to the mm3).
I had a huge night last night though, Night sweats continuously for 8 hours. That's really weird and I'm hoping it's just my immune system in some sort of turmoil from the infection and my white counts starting to rise and finding there's work to do.
Come morning my temperature was a very normal 36.5 but then after sweating so much that's no surprise. Each night I seem to have a different nurse attend me show concern at my high temperature. I tell them that it happens every night, they check my chart and look puzzled. I must be an enigma. ;)
I told Sarah today all I have to do to stop the night sweats is change time zones! I'm sure there's no way my body can tell if the sun is out, so how does it know it's time to start rising my temperature in the evening and lower it in the morning?
UPDATE: My temperature is a very healthy 36.6 as I retire for bed. The swollen lymph gland is greatly improved and I feel and look better than I have since coming in five days ago. Certainly the best I've been since before having chemo. Lets see if I can get through the night without a night-sweat! Fingers crossed.
No comments:
Post a Comment