I went in on Friday 12/10 to get the results from the cultures taken on Monday last week. They weren't in the computer, but nurse Veronica dug them out. All the cultures were negative so absolutely no info there. Dr 8(b) said it could be "tumor fever", which goes along with my history when I was trying to get the FUO (Fever of Unknown Origin) diagnosed. I spent the week and weekend with no energy, and I'm still lagging badly. I did get put on antibiotics and had no effect from them.
Dr 8(b) said I didn't need any blood work before chemo (my last CBC was 21.5 white count, high) and I was good to go for chemo on Monday. I decided I better check with the infusion office before leaving. So nurse Jessica came over and we talked it over. She's uncomfortable with not having a new CBC before starting, so I'm headed in two hours early on Monday for the blood test. That way if they do chemo it can all be one stick in the port even if it's a waste of time over having it done Friday while I was in the office. So I left it for Monday.
My next appointment with yet another new Dr. (8c?) was moved so I have another appointment with another Doctor in January. I suspect I'll be seeing a Doctor in that office sooner rather than later.
It was a bad week for hair, with all my scalp hair coming out. Hair everywhere, even the pillows are prickly. All the gray seal fur is gone.
This week I started with a stat blood test showing still elevated white counts on Monday 8/16, but we went ahead with the chemo as I had no fever and Dr 8(b) had left approval to go ahead. Unfortunately the port was balky but we got good blood flow with holding my breath. That's the first issue with the port working correctly.
Four days of chemo instead of five since my white blood cell counts crashed so badly on five days last time. We got through them with the port acting up two days. Both days we had to do the premeds and then recheck the port, doing some fiddling on the way. But it works so far. The premeds increase my appetite, which is not a bad thing. I feel better too, more energy and back to more normal stats on vitals.
So I'm scheduled for another chemo after the holidays, and a blood test part way through the holidays to see how my white counts are holding up. At least the charge nurse in infusion is keeping close tabs on me! I'll be able to see how risky it might be to visit people between Christmas and New Years.
I've got a stack of packages in the front hall with thanks to family and friends. I struggle with the holidays, not being much of a fan at this point. The only things I've opened so far were cookies and something extraordinary I'll write more about later. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas! Thanks for cheering up mine.
