Thin Blood and Greasy Hair
Posted Dec 30, 2008 1:22pm
I guess I should start by saying that yesterday was not a great day. It was not even an okay day. The previous three nights all I did was deal with getting an IV that would work long enough to get me to Monday morning, so they could put in a PICC line. (By the way I am learning how to spell medical terms correctly now. My mom will be very happy. What I thought was pheresis is actually Apheresis. Silent A. How about that?) For those of you that don't know the PICC line is used for those patients that have absolutely no veins, which would include me, and you would understand if you saw my arms and feet. Anyway, they do the PICC by ultrasound and a hollow tube is inserted in your upper arm and threaded with a wire into your main vein to your heart. This means blood and be drawn here too, so I get poked less over all. I should have had one from day one, but it is hard to convince doctors of this sometimes.(*medical people, listen to the patient if they are chronically sick! We know our body by now!*) After this I was taken straight to apheresis. As I have said before, this does not hurt, it is just a very tiring and emotionally draining process. I never thought of how much my body is actually going through physically that it is really not supposed to go through. Plus I was very tired and nauseated because the night before my phosphates where up by a 10th of a point and I had to drink this nasty stuff to make me go to the bathroom. Well that never happened and I just ended up sick to my tummy. Apheresis was very tiring and long and I slept basically the whole time. My BP dropped again and I also needed more Calcium to warm me up.
I finally got back to my room after the long morning and collapsed in bed, where all I wanted to do was go to sleep. As soon as I drifted off here come the Nurse Assistants to take my BP and all that mess. I then woke to my Heparin level being elevated to above 200, and it is supposed to be between 70-90. This means my blood was extremely thin and needless to say I was covered in blood. I was taken off the drip for about 5 hours in order to stop the bleeding, but every time I moved there was a trail of blood that followed. Patsy, Renna, Cheston and Dad were here at the time, I am sure that was gross for them. (But I really did enjoy their visit, it was the highlight of my last 2 days.)
So, all of that meant NO SHOWER because they were afraid I would open up whatever clotting had taken place. So at this point I have enough grease in my hair to fry chicken. Especially since my hair is short now, it gets greasier even quicker. Dad and I went to bed early last night because once the bleeding was under control there was really nothing else to do. To Shana, I AM reading the Twilight series, and I absolutely LOVE it. I am reading New Moon right now. Can we say ADDICTED?
Tomorrow I have my last round of Apheresis for this point in time. It may be decided I need it again later, but this is it for now. Right after I have the treatment I will go down and have the permacath in my neck removed. When I was having the PICC line placed it was very interesting to watch on the x-ray screen because both the cath and the PICC go to your heart, and you can see them meeting in there. They had to play around a little to get them to where they wouldn't touch.
I have to say that over all I think I am feeling a little bit better and more optimistic. I am ready to go home, and I hope to get there by my birthday (2nd) at least. I start Coumadin (or Warfarin, whatever you want to call it) again tonight, so I am praying to get home quickly.
Some of my docs came in this morning, and eveyone is still feeling pretty good about my diagnosis, and we are still going to peruse Mayo Clinic, Cleavland Clinic and Chapel Hill. We also found out today there is a clinic that ONLY takes care of regulating Coumdin and keeping your INR where it needs to be. I will also start going to a pain clinic for all the pain I have on a daily basis. My next round of chemo for those that want to know is Jan. 14th. The docs said after this round I will have a better idea about how sick I will get. I think that pretty much gets us up to speed. I am still bleeding just a bit, but I am going to take a nap now and I am hoping when I get up I can take a MUCH NEEDED shower and feel like a semi new woman. If anyone wants to visit feel free! You may want to call first, it is 702-6808.
Kinsley
PS*BRING CHOCOLATE:)
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