Adventures in St. Agnes, AGAIN.

I was discharged today shortly after lunch today. It was a great feeling to get out and breathe some fresh air again. Last Thursday when I took the stool specimen in to the lab, I already had called the oncologist with a fever of over 100.5. I hit 102.3 at the highest. I still didn't believe I would be admitted, but I really should have seen that coming. Some adventure!

Mark already told you I was admitted last Thursday afternoon, Veteran's Day. I was on several different IV antibiotics battling the neutropenic fever and one oral med for the C Diff. I never heard of either of these things before, but cancer is giving me quite an education. I also had no idea how impossible it was to say hydrated with this kind of diarrhea. No matter what I did there was just no way to keep up. I was extremely dehydrated both Wednesday and Thursday at the chemo center, so it was a relief to be on IV fluids and know that I would be protected from further dehydration. I rested and did all that they told me to do.

I also had a great time on the phone with Mark. Every day he would read me all the emails, Facebook postings, and blog comments. It was very uplifting to hear all the wonderful things people wrote to me. Thanks to everyone for that.

I had many fabulous visitors, too. Not only Mark, Cindy, Kip, and Denise, but several surprise guests came to see me. Marianna and Carman came on Friday evening. It was so much fun to see them! One of my nurses took this picture of the three of us on Carman's cell phone. Saturday afternoon I was graced with a surprise from Michelle and her husband Chris. Like Marianna and Carman, Michelle is a co-worker of mine from Catonsville High. It was fabulous to see them! On Sunday I was totally surprised when my niece Emily walked in!! I had not seen her for about a year and a half. She looked beautiful and stayed a very long time. We had a wonderful long chat about everything in her life and mine. It was so sweet. Thanks to all of you for brightening up my hospital stay.

My fourth chemotherapy session will go on as scheduled on Wednesday. That is very good news. I really want to stay on track as much as possible. I am somewhat concerned that I could end up spending Thanksgiving in the hospital. Think about it. My first chemo went very smoothly: chemo Wednesday, nausea and fatigue through Saturday, then a pretty good week full of fun before session two. Compare that to the second and third chemos which went very, very differently: chemo Wednesday, nausea and fatigue through Saturday, continuing to feel ill until Thursday when I was admitted to the hospital until the following week. So...two out of three chemo sessions ended up in the hospital the following Thursday. OK, if that happens this time after chemo four, I'll be in the hospital on Thanksgiving. SAY IT ISN'T SO!! Of course, the doctors cannot guarantee it won't happen again, but we are all praying BIG TIME that chemo four resembles chemo ONE.

In addition to learning about C Diff and neutropenic fever, I also learned more about the white cell count and the neulasta shot. I get the shot the day after chemo, and I sort of assumed it started working right away. This is very wrong. The white cells continue to go down the week after chemo before the neulasta starts to work just shortly before it's time to start the cycle again. That's why my neutrafill counts (baby white blood cells) were 800 on Wednesday, 550 on Thursday, 310 on Friday, then 1100 on Saturday when the neulasta finally kicked in. Over 1000 is normal. Each day that it is below 1000 I am at risk for infections. The very week that I was feeling my best back during that first chemo session, I was actually at my most vulnerable for picking up something. YES! A lot of you have warned me, and you are RIGHT. Anyway, I am now going to be MUCH more paranoid, I mean careful, the week after this fourth chemo session. Because that is going to be during the week of Thanksgiving with lots of family and friends in the house, I will take extra precautions to protect myself: no kissing, limited hugging, vigilant handwashing. I haven't ruled out wearing a mask and gloves! LOL