Meds and tests and giving in to medicine

I thought I'd start by putting my numbers from my blood counts over the last few days here. Although I wrote about what the tests measure and indicate, I didn't give all the numbers I had. 

Copying from my last post to get the general range of numbers, I'll put in my numbers after. I have labs run every morning (between 3:30 and 6:00 am).

Total white blood cell count
Normal is 4.2-11.0
5.0, 5.1, 6.9, 4.1, 6.3, 5.4, 2.5, 1.1, 0.4

Hemoglobin
Normal is 12-15.5
They will do a whole blood transfusion if it drops below 7.0
8.6, 8.2, 9.5, 8.0, 7.4, 7.6, 7.8, 6.5

Platelets
Normal is 140K-450K, but mine have never been that high
They will do a platelet transfusion if it drops below 10K
23K, 21K, 38K, 22K, 20K, 18K, 15K, 10K, 5K

Absolute neutrophils
Normal is 1.8-7.7
They call it neutropenic if I drop below 1.5, and exercise additional precautions, including putting me on a prophylactic antibiotic; apparently once you're declared neutropenic, they stop running this and the blast percentage because the total WBC count is so low that it's really hard to get fractions.
1.1, 0.8, 1.7, 1.8, 4.3, 4.2, 1.6, 0.4...

Blast percentage
Normal is 1-5% in bone marrow, but none in blood; this goes along with the neutropenic marker and is no longer run after you go neutropenic.
42%, 28%, 10%, 2%, 14%, 12%

What this means is that today I will get a blood transfusion and also platelets. I am indebted to all who are able to donate, as it truly will save my life. I'm also a little bit scared as the consent form lists things that could potentially happen if you receive blood from another person. Still, I don't exactly have another option, so we'll do it!

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Last night was a rough night. As my blood cells dropped, I started to develop a fever. I also was ridiculously exhausted--to the point of not being able to keep my eyes open. It was kind of scary to be that out of it, but also strangely nice to not be able to do anything other than just sleep. My temp started to creep up into the 100's and I was warned that if it hit 101.5 they'd have to do all sorts of thing, including preventative antibiotics and a bunch of tests to make sure it wasn't an infection causing the fever. I have always been the kind of person who spiked fevers easily (My mom used to say, "you get a fever from a paper cut."). So part of me knew that this was likely my body reacting to all the crap being thrown at it. But it's still scary when they're doing all sorts of things, "just in case." And then my temp hit 101.8.

I spent over 12 hours drifting in and out of consciousness (sleepy-consciousness) while my vitals were taken over and over, I was given meds, and more blood was drawn and more other things sampled, and I got an X-ray in my hospital room...

At this point the urinalysis and the X-ray were both negative for anything, but it can take days for the blood cultures to come back. The longer w/o results, the better in that case, meaning nothing is growing. Again, I'm hoping it's just my body and the way it reacts to any trauma and not another thing to have to deal with.

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I asked my nurse this morning to go over all the meds I'm on, and explain them.  Here we go:

Idarubicin: chemo given daily for 3 days; done with this one
Cytarabine: chemo given around the clock for 7+ days (there's some extension of time with the IV bags and changes of lines and such, so it ends up being over 7 days; I'm still getting this one and it is due to end sometime on Saturday.
Posaconazole: oral med that is an anti-fungal
Allopurinol: oral med to decrease uric acid, which can increase with the chemo as cancer cells die, and it ultimately protects my kidneys
Ondansetrone/Zofram: anti-nausea meds given in my IV
Cephapine--IV antibiotic given when neutrophils drop
Vancomycin--second IV antibiotic added when my temp went over 101.5
Femara/Letrozole: the aromatase inhibitor that I have been on for four years already
Calcium/Vit D.: vitamins I've taken for a long time
Acyclovir: Anti-viral that will be added when the chemo is done

I was taken back 25 years when I was writing my birth plan and was ADAMANT that I would not get an IV placed because it was too invasive. I didn't want pain meds for labor or pitocin for induction. I wanted to trust my body to de exactly what it was made to do.

It's insane to think about that now. Central lines, additional IVs as needed, a med list that I can't remember and have to write down. Everything going into me and coming out of me being measured... What I wouldn't give to just have to defend my birth plan now!

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I'm gearing up for another day of hard work. I need to try to walk or otherwise exercise since I barely did anything yesterday. I'll have 1-1.5 hours of platelet transfusion, then 2.5-3 hours of blood transfusion. I'm tired, but I'm not so completely exhausted as I was yesterday. I have been told that it will get worse before it gets better, and I'm still moving forward. Two more days of chemo, and I just keep checking things off the list.


While it's been nice to see people, it really wipes me out, so please don't be offended if you ask to visit and I just can't do it. It's taken an inordinately long time to be able to type this blog post since I'm super easily distracted. I had thought I'd be able to keep up with work while I was hospitalized. While I can do tiny bits, I can't sustain thoughts or plans. So I guess resting is where it's at. (And walking. So much walking.)