Hello Everyone!
It has been a while, hasn't it? Over a month since I last posted but my focus, fingers and energy level have not been aligned until now to write an update.
So, where to begin? Well, I actually did end up spending just shy of three weeks at the Henderson Hospital, since then I have been home recovering but let’s break it down into ‘segments’ shall I? -->
The 1st Seven:
I entered Henderson on the 9th April and after a quick baseline chest x-ray was immediately hooked up to the IV for fluids to get me all plumped up for the next week worth of chemo. Once hooked up, the fluid part of the IV ran 24/7 for the next 3 weeks (save for 2 days) except when the chemo meds were running so I basically was attached via two lines to an IV pole for 3wks – amazing what you get used to…it sort of reminds me of when you go skiing; you know, at the end of the day when you take your ski boots off you feel as though you are floating above the ground. That was what it was like when unhooked finally from the IV, free floating! It’s amazing what you get used to until it is gone. But, I digress. The next 6 days I had chemo. The chemo meds were only an hour or two each day but beforehand was the nausea and steroids, both by IV which took an hour or so and then nausea meds again after which were another hour and again at 8pm and midnight each day so all told the infusions were about 4-5.5 hours a day. The rest of the time I spent just hooked up to the fluids, getting my temperature+blood pressure+heart rate monitored every 4 hours until midnight and daily blood draws each morning at 4:30am, and; napping, watching TV, flipping through magazines or (best of all) with some fantastic visitors. Daily my MIL brought Hayden in for a visit and it was an instant mood lifter for me. His visits were not too long (he is 4 and hospitals are not that stimulating) but I got my Hayden fix and he got his mommy fix and it was wonderful. By day 5, which was the Monday, I had my head shaved. It was time. My nurses were letting me know that I has leaving hair bunnies all through my floor as it floated away from my head and me, my bedclothes, my sheets and my floor were covered in my shedding so ‘Off with her head!’. Results = a really chubby Demi Moore in GI Jane but at least I don’t have really funny ears or large dents in my head…
Day Eight and Nine:
Re-infusion Day. The day I received my stem cells back. My re-birthday on April 16th (Happy real birthday Claudia) The process consisted of me lying in my bed with a nurse monitoring my vitals after every infusion on one side and the transplant coordinator giving me lemon lozenges and cold compresses on the other. Another ‘freeze team’ of three thawed my cells one bag at a time (eight I think?) and then drew them into big fat syringes. They would then give the syringe to the doctor who pumped each through my pherisis very s-l-o-w-l-y. Lather, rinse, repeat eight more times and in about an hour it was all said and done. No major side effects due to the nice nausea meds and Ativan (stress reducer) given before hand. It went really, really well.
The next day my blood counts were low due to the chemo finally kicking in with them so I had a couple of bags of blood transfusion and was discharged home that afternoon.
Okay, definitely more to come – my 2nd round in the hospital and my weeks so far at home- but for now consider this my 1st installment about all that…I am tired and need a little lay down now for a while. I will write more soon to get this all completely up to date.
For now let me say I am recovering and slowly but surely am on my way to better days
With such happiness and hope,
Carey
4 years ago
