The last couple of weeks have been fun. First my hemoglobin level dropped again for no apparent reason and I spent 12 hours in the ER to get slowly infused with 3 units of blood. Apparently my level was so low (5.8) that I needed a slow feed or I might have coded. That was fun getting discharged at 1am, but I wanted to go home. The really cool part was when I was ready to leave they got someone to wheel me out and he asked if I had a ride coming and I replied that I had driven myself there. Well he said he would get his coat and he wheeled me right to the door of my car….such a cool dude.
Now on to the Friday before last…..I noticed a pain in my knee and thought that I must have twisted it, but it got worse, much worse. I started losing sleep because of the throbbing pain and on Monday it was horrible. I was so weak from it that I couldn’t get out of a chair. So I called my doc to cancel and appointment we had that day and he asked why…..”call and ambulance and get to the hospital “ he said, so I did. At first they thought I had sepsis and admitted me because they needed to run blood cultures. So I ended up seeing so many doctors that I can’t name them all but they ranged from Infectious Disease to physical therapy. After 3 days they took fluid from my knee (not fun) and tested it to find out I had gout of the knee. Doc seems to think it’s due to the Oxyliplaten I’ve been on but gout meds and steroids quickly brought some relief. I thought I was all set to go home on Friday but my hemoglobin level dropped a bit due to all the fluids pumped into me so they injected some more iron. I was finally able to leave on Saturday afternoon and was so happy to get home again. I went to bed at 8pm and didn’t get up until noon the next day and I still felt tired. I guess that’s what happens when you don’t sleep for almost a week.
Long story short, food was decent but they always seemed to get the order wrong. The nursing staff……unbelievable!! They treated me so well, like I was a beloved grandpa which made my stay almost tolerable.
Now I have to set up next week to go back to my chemo mode….oi
