Here we go again. Updated 1/9/18 7:15am
January 6, 2018. Back to In the Beginning
Here we go again...or don't eat the forbidden fruit!
Back in the hospital again. Mikki and I were babysitting and mid afternoon I started to feel run down. Slept for 2 hours and woke up with a scratchy throat and 102.5 fever. Protocol says over 100.5 with chemo, head to the ER. Gave a urine sample - came back negative. Nurse Katrina checked me in and PA Jennifer checked lungs and ordered blood test and X-ray. Katrina came back and said I'm moving to isolation room 17 in the ER.
Also have a bit of yeast settle next to my gum which took advantage of the opportunity to inflame my cheek by the gum. X-ray tech Priscilla took me for my closeups. ER Tech Courtney took me back but some confusion about the room assignment. Ended up in Room 5. RN Steve took my blood samples from my port and sent them off. He said if anyone asks that the best needle to use for the port is a one inch 19 gauge. It's about 10x fatter than typical IV needles. He was there for a while and we talked about our times as EMTs and the 10/1 incident response.
Flu swabs taken but someone broke the analyzer machine so they have to send them downtown to Valley hospital for testing. Blood tests will be back quickly but another 3 day wait for cultures. Hope I don't have to wait here again.
Steve started a saline and Cefepime drip, followed by Vancomycin. Just after the Vanco started they moved me up to 479 and RN Christene and CNA Vicky took over. Both very competant and Cbristene fixed up the mess that is my nephrostomy tube.
Dr Taylor, the hospitalist, came in and added Tylenol and an antifungal, Diflucan, for the yeast infection to the list of drugs to take. He is so much better than the other two twits I've had for hospitalists here. He also wanted a urine sample from the neph tube as there was some blood in the bag. I think that was just from the tube being pulled with movement. Christene struggled with a different bag that would be able to fit to collect the sample, so they may send down to Intervention Radiology for another of the one that's on there now.
Christene gave me PJ bottoms I can wear as I still had jeans under the gown. Never knew that was an option.
January 7, 2018
Woken up every 3 hours for vitals and to restick the ECG leads that pop off; at least the fever is coming down. A few more visits from Vicky and her replacement for day shift, Barb. Vicky pushed another dose of Cefepime. I called in breakfast: French toast, of course. Barb brought it in at 8:30. RN May took over for Christene for the day shift. The charge nurse, Bella, for day shift popped in and introduced herself too.
Jeanine, the Physical Therapist, just popped in. I guess she thought I was some kind of gimp. We went for a stroll around the floor. One batshit crazy old lady was giving one of the nurses crap and getting physical. She didn't have any idea where she was. Time to break out the Haldol shooters.
Dr Taylor stopped by and was encouraged by my WBC numbers.
I have a suspicion that all this is the result of me having eaten a bag of dried blueberries. Thinking about it there was probably wild yeast on the outside of blueberries depending upon how they were dried. New rule to add to the list.
Dang. My pee smells worse than asparagus pee. But that's the closest comparison I can make.
11:00am
Dr. Tamala the onco came by. She said my bone marrow is doing well in generating white blood cells so she will still just give me a shot of neupogen to help it along. She will also make sure the yeast infection is treated well.
1:00pm
Whole crew came to visit. Ellie is really excited to be here.
9:00am
They forgot my breakfast so Barb had them whip up a fresh plate. Worth the wait, else it woud have been cold and rubbery.
A fellow just came by and disconnected my wireless ecg. Must mean I'm getting out today.
10:00am
No such luck. Dr Taylor came by and said that my a neutrophil count certainly too low and white blood cell count is just s bit better. He also pointed out that Sunrise Hospital doesn't take my insurance. I've never seen a hospitalist take this much interest, that's great.
3:15pm
Looks like my mouth is clear of thrush finally.
Reading "Fire and Fury" about Trump.
Best quote in the book - George W. Bush, on the dais, supplied what seemed likely to become the historic footnote to the Trump (inaugural) address: “That’s some weird shit.”
7:00pm
I could only eat the bland food that was part of my dinner such as the roll, rice, sorbet, crackers, chicken soup. One bite of the zucchini and everything in my mouth tasted like Nystatin; so disgusting I had spit it out. Figured out that the reason why the tea was so bad was because the water wasn't hot enough. Maybe need a heating element in the go-bag.
Mikki and Andrew are coming by in the morning. I asked them to bring unscented lotion and soap, and Faye yogurt. That has real live cultures that will help defeat the yeast. I ordered yogurt for breakfast, but it is probably so cheap crap with no live culture.
11:00pm
My new Rn Eloise read off the lab counts. Everything normal except white blood cells which at least moved up .1. At that rate, it will take 3 weeks to get normal. But that doesn't reflect a day's impact of the Neupogen. She said neutrophils were okay. Given they were almost non-existent yesterday, I'll have to wait till 7pm tomorrow to look at it on the patient portal to confirm. I'll see Dr T before that though.
January 9, 2018 6:15am
Right on schedule. The elevator started grinding its way up. Amber also woke me up to take blood. For some reason she wouldn't take a stab in the dark and made me turn on the light. Eloise confirmed I would be getting another neupogen shot today at 10:00am. She said 1 gram of epogen in the Philippines cost as much as a car. The Neulastin isn't far from that here.
7:00am
Shift change and now I have two guys as RN and CNA, Kim and Paris. I wouldn't have pegged either as a guy's name.
9:00am
Kim already swapped out with Raiza who was nice enough to bring hot water for real tea.
11:00am
Dr. Taylor came by and said WBC was up over 4 but neutrophils % still too low. He wants to see the numbers in this latest test soon, but still says I'm a hostage till tomorrow. Dr. Alexi came by and said no sign of infection in any of the tests and thrush wouldn't cause the fever. Could have been a local infection in the gum. He is still going to send me home with antibiotics and recommendation to oncologist to boost my WBC sooner after chemo. I am getting that it is the insurance authorizations that cause the delay. They probably want the lab proof that my immune system is shot before authorizing and by then, I end up back here.
Raiza said after this latest dose of Vanco drips in, she will set me up for a much needed shower. Much longer and I'll look like the reincarnation of Howard Hughes.
11:30am Neutraphils are up to 1.4 - over 25% z and Hallelujah, lawd awmighty, I'm free at last!
Footnote: That Diflucan takes 80 hours to get out of your system! Good thing I'm fasting for 3 days.
Next: Ding! Round three.....
Back in the hospital again. Mikki and I were babysitting and mid afternoon I started to feel run down. Slept for 2 hours and woke up with a scratchy throat and 102.5 fever. Protocol says over 100.5 with chemo, head to the ER. Gave a urine sample - came back negative. Nurse Katrina checked me in and PA Jennifer checked lungs and ordered blood test and X-ray. Katrina came back and said I'm moving to isolation room 17 in the ER.
Also have a bit of yeast settle next to my gum which took advantage of the opportunity to inflame my cheek by the gum. X-ray tech Priscilla took me for my closeups. ER Tech Courtney took me back but some confusion about the room assignment. Ended up in Room 5. RN Steve took my blood samples from my port and sent them off. He said if anyone asks that the best needle to use for the port is a one inch 19 gauge. It's about 10x fatter than typical IV needles. He was there for a while and we talked about our times as EMTs and the 10/1 incident response.
Flu swabs taken but someone broke the analyzer machine so they have to send them downtown to Valley hospital for testing. Blood tests will be back quickly but another 3 day wait for cultures. Hope I don't have to wait here again.
Steve started a saline and Cefepime drip, followed by Vancomycin. Just after the Vanco started they moved me up to 479 and RN Christene and CNA Vicky took over. Both very competant and Cbristene fixed up the mess that is my nephrostomy tube.
Dr Taylor, the hospitalist, came in and added Tylenol and an antifungal, Diflucan, for the yeast infection to the list of drugs to take. He is so much better than the other two twits I've had for hospitalists here. He also wanted a urine sample from the neph tube as there was some blood in the bag. I think that was just from the tube being pulled with movement. Christene struggled with a different bag that would be able to fit to collect the sample, so they may send down to Intervention Radiology for another of the one that's on there now.
Christene gave me PJ bottoms I can wear as I still had jeans under the gown. Never knew that was an option.
January 7, 2018
Woken up every 3 hours for vitals and to restick the ECG leads that pop off; at least the fever is coming down. A few more visits from Vicky and her replacement for day shift, Barb. Vicky pushed another dose of Cefepime. I called in breakfast: French toast, of course. Barb brought it in at 8:30. RN May took over for Christene for the day shift. The charge nurse, Bella, for day shift popped in and introduced herself too.
Jeanine, the Physical Therapist, just popped in. I guess she thought I was some kind of gimp. We went for a stroll around the floor. One batshit crazy old lady was giving one of the nurses crap and getting physical. She didn't have any idea where she was. Time to break out the Haldol shooters.
Dr Taylor stopped by and was encouraged by my WBC numbers.
I have a suspicion that all this is the result of me having eaten a bag of dried blueberries. Thinking about it there was probably wild yeast on the outside of blueberries depending upon how they were dried. New rule to add to the list.
11:00am
Dr. Tamala the onco came by. She said my bone marrow is doing well in generating white blood cells so she will still just give me a shot of neupogen to help it along. She will also make sure the yeast infection is treated well.
1:00pm
Whole crew came to visit. Ellie is really excited to be here.
8:00 pm
Not a very eventful day. Bills game was a waste, but Saints! What a finish! Splat! Dinner was yucky. Ate the chicken and bread. Their food is good when it's fresh. Being in isolation, I'm in the very last room furthest from the elevators.
Doc Taylor prescribed Nystatin for the yeast infection (thrush) to swish in my mouth every 6 hours. It tastes like my urine smells...so gross. Could have just given me a $.99 bottle of peroxide. Even the soap and lotion smell nasty here.
I have a backpack I have been lugging around through this. It started as just something to carry cans of La Croix and V8. It is morphing into my hospital go-bag. Now included band aids, Neosporin, good tea, throat lozenges, charger for phone, hand lotion (because the stuff here smells like the soap), plastic utenails., inflatable neck pillow, bidon full of water with salt and baking soda mixture, plastic cup, lid and straw, thermometer, lip balm, lotion, powdered Gatorade, toothbrush, and face masks. I had a powerstrip too, but left it in the car, as I really just need that at the chemo lab.
Note to self: pack soap, peroxide, ear plugs, and alcohol wipes. Although my tinnitus is almost as loud as the background noise, smmmo ear plugs might be a waste.
January 8, 2018 6:00 am
Dr Alexi, the infwctiou disease doc, came in and checked me out. He said there is no infection. Another onco from CCCN came at the same time but advised I should go to Sunrise Hospital next time as that's where Vogelzang goes. It's on the other side of town. At least that is also where Lisa works so she knows who's who and I will likely get special treatment. If he'd said Centennial Hills or North Vista, I would have told him where to stick it. My hope honges on Dr Taylor but I think I'm stuck here for another day unless the labs free me. I still see a spot of thrush in the corner of my cheek. That should be gone soon with a couple more doses of Nystatin.
Just my luck there's in construction elevator attached to the outside of the building right next to my window and since 6 they've been running this elevator up and down constantly.
They forgot my breakfast so Barb had them whip up a fresh plate. Worth the wait, else it woud have been cold and rubbery.
A fellow just came by and disconnected my wireless ecg. Must mean I'm getting out today.
10:00am
No such luck. Dr Taylor came by and said that my a neutrophil count certainly too low and white blood cell count is just s bit better. He also pointed out that Sunrise Hospital doesn't take my insurance. I've never seen a hospitalist take this much interest, that's great.
3:15pm
Looks like my mouth is clear of thrush finally.
Reading "Fire and Fury" about Trump.
Best quote in the book - George W. Bush, on the dais, supplied what seemed likely to become the historic footnote to the Trump (inaugural) address: “That’s some weird shit.”
7:00pm
I could only eat the bland food that was part of my dinner such as the roll, rice, sorbet, crackers, chicken soup. One bite of the zucchini and everything in my mouth tasted like Nystatin; so disgusting I had spit it out. Figured out that the reason why the tea was so bad was because the water wasn't hot enough. Maybe need a heating element in the go-bag.
Mikki and Andrew are coming by in the morning. I asked them to bring unscented lotion and soap, and Faye yogurt. That has real live cultures that will help defeat the yeast. I ordered yogurt for breakfast, but it is probably so cheap crap with no live culture.
11:00pm
My new Rn Eloise read off the lab counts. Everything normal except white blood cells which at least moved up .1. At that rate, it will take 3 weeks to get normal. But that doesn't reflect a day's impact of the Neupogen. She said neutrophils were okay. Given they were almost non-existent yesterday, I'll have to wait till 7pm tomorrow to look at it on the patient portal to confirm. I'll see Dr T before that though.
January 9, 2018 6:15am
Right on schedule. The elevator started grinding its way up. Amber also woke me up to take blood. For some reason she wouldn't take a stab in the dark and made me turn on the light. Eloise confirmed I would be getting another neupogen shot today at 10:00am. She said 1 gram of epogen in the Philippines cost as much as a car. The Neulastin isn't far from that here.
7:00am
Shift change and now I have two guys as RN and CNA, Kim and Paris. I wouldn't have pegged either as a guy's name.
9:00am
Kim already swapped out with Raiza who was nice enough to bring hot water for real tea.
11:00am
Dr. Taylor came by and said WBC was up over 4 but neutrophils % still too low. He wants to see the numbers in this latest test soon, but still says I'm a hostage till tomorrow. Dr. Alexi came by and said no sign of infection in any of the tests and thrush wouldn't cause the fever. Could have been a local infection in the gum. He is still going to send me home with antibiotics and recommendation to oncologist to boost my WBC sooner after chemo. I am getting that it is the insurance authorizations that cause the delay. They probably want the lab proof that my immune system is shot before authorizing and by then, I end up back here.
Raiza said after this latest dose of Vanco drips in, she will set me up for a much needed shower. Much longer and I'll look like the reincarnation of Howard Hughes.
11:30am Neutraphils are up to 1.4 - over 25% z and Hallelujah, lawd awmighty, I'm free at last!
Footnote: That Diflucan takes 80 hours to get out of your system! Good thing I'm fasting for 3 days.
Next: Ding! Round three.....
