back in the hospital
today was the first day back in the hospital. i was terrified.
it is past midnight right now and i should be trying to sleep but i thought that i would try to write an entry before falling asleep.
today was crazy.
my mom and i arrived at the hospital at 1pm. we had to wait in the admittance room where all the little kids were staring at me with my mask on. After 45 minutes of waiting and getting situated, I was told I would be on the 4th floor, which is great-because it is the bone marrow transplant unit and I know some of the nurses. IT is an intensive care floor and I am checked on quite often. As soon as I got up here, I had to fill out papers-and then I talked to the Dr. who had done a bone marrow biopsy on me before and he said we had all these things to do and might start chemo tonight.
That has not happened, we are starting tomorrow morning.
So then it was filling out papers, consenting blood forms, signing the bone marrow forms...
I had to be checked in by the nurse and also had to check me out. Then I had to get the blood pressure, weight, height, ...done. Then i had to get blood drawn. This was all around 2. Then as soon as all this was done, it was onto the bone marrow biopsy. This was quick but the doctor hit a nerve-and i had tingly-pins and needles like feeling all te way down the back of my leg to my foot-and i was terrified I could not walk. This was how it felt-and I was told I needed to lay on my back for an hour. It slowly started to go away but was still very tingly for a while.
After this, waiting and finishing more paper work-discussion some chemo-
I went down to special procedures to get a triple lumen portacath in my neck. There was talk of it being by my subclavical-but there is more risk in that-there is a possibility of doing something near the lung, and the soreness and pain can be worse. Cosmetically speaking, that might be nicer, because i have some iv looking things coming out of my neck, but it sounded more safe. And being that my counts are so low, I want to go for safety rather than looks. I was down there for about an hour. My mom came down with me but had to wait in the waiting room when I went into the surgery-or whatever it would be called.
SO finally, this was done at about 530pm. I had barelly eaten or drank anything all day. I had an English Muffin in the morning and then half of a bagel with nothing on it between the bone marrow biopsy and the putting in of the port.
I thought I was done because I needed a MUGA test (i think it's called ) and they decided they would wait until tomorrow to start the chemo. This test is to look at my heart and to see how the function is with pumpin because I have had chemo before. The place that does this test closed at 4:30 pm so they decided they would do that in the morning.
So I thought I was done...i was looking through my charts...asked my nurse for a copy of my blood results...and then as I was doing that, the attending physician Dr> harrison entered my room. He is amaazing...funny...and really knowledgeable. We had a really great conversation. I asked him about my doctor for my transplant...and to put it bluntly, he said he was the best doctorfor this in the united states...i was blown away. Dr. Rowley worked with the man that is sometimes credited for the first bone marrow transplant. It made me feel like all the decisions have been right ones.
So after our conversation. My mom was here too...we had a lot of laughs...it was nice...
My mom left to get some food-and I was going to order-and someone comes in and says they can take me for the MUGA. So i was brought down to this kinda weird room with this machine that looks like somewhere you would get like an MRI. and they injected something in me and we had to wait 15-20 minutes...then he put something else-like a dye that would connect to the red blood cells and let them see what was going on in my heart. HE had to inject some radiation into me, but not too much. He said getting an Xray causes more radiation. This lasted until about 8:00pm. I was so hungry and tired...and in pain...
I also have had to take 400 milligrams of diflucan (anti-fungal), another medication for my kidneys, a birth control pill (to stop period), acyclovir (anti-bacterial), percocet (for the pain, 5mg oxycodone/325 tylenol).
So tomorrow morning, I start the chemo-I have three different types-for 6 days. I will most likely be here until I recover my counts-so 3 weeks about...
I need to try to sleep.
My dad came over and hung out with us. Alison is coming tomorrow and then Jenna is coming wednesday...
I need to sleep. Goodnight-
it is past midnight right now and i should be trying to sleep but i thought that i would try to write an entry before falling asleep.
today was crazy.
my mom and i arrived at the hospital at 1pm. we had to wait in the admittance room where all the little kids were staring at me with my mask on. After 45 minutes of waiting and getting situated, I was told I would be on the 4th floor, which is great-because it is the bone marrow transplant unit and I know some of the nurses. IT is an intensive care floor and I am checked on quite often. As soon as I got up here, I had to fill out papers-and then I talked to the Dr. who had done a bone marrow biopsy on me before and he said we had all these things to do and might start chemo tonight.
That has not happened, we are starting tomorrow morning.
So then it was filling out papers, consenting blood forms, signing the bone marrow forms...
I had to be checked in by the nurse and also had to check me out. Then I had to get the blood pressure, weight, height, ...done. Then i had to get blood drawn. This was all around 2. Then as soon as all this was done, it was onto the bone marrow biopsy. This was quick but the doctor hit a nerve-and i had tingly-pins and needles like feeling all te way down the back of my leg to my foot-and i was terrified I could not walk. This was how it felt-and I was told I needed to lay on my back for an hour. It slowly started to go away but was still very tingly for a while.
After this, waiting and finishing more paper work-discussion some chemo-
I went down to special procedures to get a triple lumen portacath in my neck. There was talk of it being by my subclavical-but there is more risk in that-there is a possibility of doing something near the lung, and the soreness and pain can be worse. Cosmetically speaking, that might be nicer, because i have some iv looking things coming out of my neck, but it sounded more safe. And being that my counts are so low, I want to go for safety rather than looks. I was down there for about an hour. My mom came down with me but had to wait in the waiting room when I went into the surgery-or whatever it would be called.
SO finally, this was done at about 530pm. I had barelly eaten or drank anything all day. I had an English Muffin in the morning and then half of a bagel with nothing on it between the bone marrow biopsy and the putting in of the port.
I thought I was done because I needed a MUGA test (i think it's called ) and they decided they would wait until tomorrow to start the chemo. This test is to look at my heart and to see how the function is with pumpin because I have had chemo before. The place that does this test closed at 4:30 pm so they decided they would do that in the morning.
So I thought I was done...i was looking through my charts...asked my nurse for a copy of my blood results...and then as I was doing that, the attending physician Dr> harrison entered my room. He is amaazing...funny...and really knowledgeable. We had a really great conversation. I asked him about my doctor for my transplant...and to put it bluntly, he said he was the best doctorfor this in the united states...i was blown away. Dr. Rowley worked with the man that is sometimes credited for the first bone marrow transplant. It made me feel like all the decisions have been right ones.
So after our conversation. My mom was here too...we had a lot of laughs...it was nice...
My mom left to get some food-and I was going to order-and someone comes in and says they can take me for the MUGA. So i was brought down to this kinda weird room with this machine that looks like somewhere you would get like an MRI. and they injected something in me and we had to wait 15-20 minutes...then he put something else-like a dye that would connect to the red blood cells and let them see what was going on in my heart. HE had to inject some radiation into me, but not too much. He said getting an Xray causes more radiation. This lasted until about 8:00pm. I was so hungry and tired...and in pain...
I also have had to take 400 milligrams of diflucan (anti-fungal), another medication for my kidneys, a birth control pill (to stop period), acyclovir (anti-bacterial), percocet (for the pain, 5mg oxycodone/325 tylenol).
So tomorrow morning, I start the chemo-I have three different types-for 6 days. I will most likely be here until I recover my counts-so 3 weeks about...
I need to try to sleep.
My dad came over and hung out with us. Alison is coming tomorrow and then Jenna is coming wednesday...
I need to sleep. Goodnight-
posted by Jenn at 12:35 AM
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