So, last weekend we are out and about, not doing much Saturday and going to Fire Island on Sunday to see some friends. Because of the rather intense heat of late, I have been sleeping with the A/C on -something I rarely do over a normal summer of the last few years, but with this heat, it's tough without it. Needless to say, I have a bit of a sinus thing going on because I really don't tolerate the A/C that well. And the sinus thing turns into a bit of a cough thing by the end of last week. So I have this sort of summer cold going on. I'm checking my temperature since this past week, my off week, is one to be a bit carfeull of in terms of infections. I check my temperature regularly over the weekend and it's in the 97 to 98 range -all quite normal. Last Sunday it goes up to 99. Come Monday morning it's still at 99 -a little elevated nut nothing to be concerned about. By mid morning it's over 100 and I call Sloan and they say come in to see us.
So off we go to Sloan and they take a look at me and see that I'm a little feverish, vitals are ok otherwise and draw some blood. Of they go to see the CBC and meanwhile Sue is in the chair and I'm sitting on the bench and starting to feel a little peculiar. I'm getting a little woozy, a bit warm and my tummy feels slightly upset. I put it down to the fever and I didn't say anything, I just sat through it. The nurse comes back in and I'm really having a hard time keeping upright, I'm so woozy. All of a sudden Sue says to the nurse "He's going to faint", and the nurse quickly drops the back of the bench down and stuffs oxygen up my nose and puts a drip in my arm. Apparently I had turned grey and really was about to keel over.
Now, you'd think a 59 year old bloke would know when he's going to faint. That may be true, but only if he's fainted before, otherwise if he never has fainted, he wouldn't know the symptoms, would I?
So, with the advent of the fever, coupled with anemia and the near fainting spell Sloan call an ambulance and send me to the ER of the same hospital as last time. There in the ER while I'm waiting for blood results, my temperature jumps to 102.5 and they gave me three, yes three, ES Tylenol and covered me in cold water towels to keep it at bay. Obviously they admitted me. A lesson learned here: DON'T FAINT IN THE DOCTORS OFFICE IF YOU WANT TO STAY OUT OF THE ER.
First, the hospital think I may have pneumonia -they see something on the xray that looks like it. So I spend the first couple of days being pumped full of IV anitbiotics with a view to getting the pneumonia under control and the fever down and then off home we go. Wednesday morning the fever broke, the doctors tell me my lungs are clear, the cultures all come back negative so I'm ready to go home, right? Dead wrong.
By now, I'm into the bad zone of the chemo off week, when levels typically drop and my blood platelets are dropping like flies. The hospital doctor doesn't like this. I tell him mine drop rather low but they'll come back no prob. The Sloan doctor tells him pretty much the same thing. Except that with each day the count has been heading south and Thursday drops into the danger zone. So the deal now is not with a fever, pneumonia or anything like that, but with platelet monitoring -almost the same thing as the first time in hospital at the beginning of June. Oh how wonderfull this is.
Finally, yesterday (Saturday) the platelet count turned and started heading up and they let me out (felt a bit like being released from jail). Six days gone this week -poof.
And to top it all off, I'm on antibiotics for 7 days which will delay my last chemo round by another week -see, you can't take antibiotics and chemo at the same time. The former has to finish 2 days before the latter can resume. Brilliant. Just bloody brilliant.
So now I'm looking ahead with some intrepidation as to what cycle 4 might bring. So far, I've had three full cycles and spent 2 of the 3 off weeks in hospital, and the silly bit is, fainting apart, I never really felt ill. It was internal blood counts that put me there the first time, and kept me there both times.
So now my last chemo day should be 11th August. I have to reset my appointments next week, but I think that is how it will pan out. Probably going to put surgery back too.
Can't say the week was a blast -I'm jam packed with these swine antibiotics again, I missed 2 good concerts and a wake -not sure where this one falls. Could have been worse. On the bright side, I have an extra week off from chemo. I see Yin and Yang at work here.
Lastly, thank you to all those who were texting and calling me throughout the week to see how I was. Sue of course was there every day and made me dinner so that I had to endure only 2 hospital meals per day -that's more than anyone should have to endure. I know it's tough for my son Dominic in Chicago since he is remote and obviously worried, but we keep pretty close contact which helps a bit. The hospital has no WiFi -they're cheap- so email was out of the question and I'm much better at texting now...
Be well you All,
Chris
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