Thank goodness it's Friday?

I was going to post yesterday after the doctor visit but I kept thinking there would be more changes to the regimen so I kept putting it off. But here is what I know today. Which still has some questions in it.

We are doing nothing about the PICC line right now. My platelets are too low to give me a blood thinner. Dr. Abhyankar thinks the clots have been there a long time (and I agree with him based on similar kinds of pain in the past) and he doesn't think they will start moving after all this time. We don't want to move the PICC line because my counts are so low, there is a HUGE risk of infection. So the bit of discomfort surrounding the line is going to be a trade off.

Lungs are holding their own. Here is a link to a picture of an inspirometer. http://www.eecs.wsu.edu/~schneidj/accident/Pages/inspirometer.html
I suck air in through the blue tube which is tucked up there on the right. That raises the white disk in the fat central tube, which I want to get as high as possible. And to be perfectly compliant with the requirements of the thing the yellow thimble in the left tube should only go as high as the top of the line for the "best" section.

I am walking extra laps to help with the lungs too. That is the thing that makes me feel most comfortable. Yesterday one of the nurses inquired about my Wii Fit. I told her I didn't have it with me this trip as I was only staying "a few days." However, I have to agree with the premise for being in the hospital. Especially when I woke up in the night with a fever and a chipmunk cheek.

Yesterday they changed my pain meds "because she wasn't getting adequate pain relief." This resulted in a low back ache the rest of the day. What they gave me was a Fentenuyl pump along with a base delivery of Fentenuyl all the day. Apparently I'm hard to please.......

However a push of Fentenuyl seems to send me to sleep for an hour or so, so that's relief of a sort.

I have a "sucker tube" like those the dentist uses to get the saliva and mucous out of my mouth so I don't have to cough. I'm not very high on eating still. I weigh plenty. I take my pills with a morphine swish n swallow. This is a combination of morphine and Mylanta that I swish around and hold in my mouth for a few seconds if I can, then swallow. There is a milder version that the staff associated with the BMT unit calls "Magic Mouthwash" which is equal parts of Lidocain/Benedryl/Mylanta, but it burns a bit going through the throat.

I have been told my WBC count was .2 today which would be up .1. Not a huge difference but going in the right direction. The nurse practitioner today said my ANC has to get over 500 to show white cell recovery. It's a different answer than "couple more days" but essentially means the same thing. She's also going to have the pain management team call on my again.

Finally, the last bit of my treatment protocol is a dose of Methotrexate today. This may or may not happen (because it affects the condition of my mouth.) If it doesn't happen, it just doesn't happen. It will change the protocol.

Barry, I'm so happy to see your comment from yesterday; I wondered where you had got to. I love seeing your comments. Sara, tell Tom and Paul to bring their pictures and stories from Boundary Waters. I'm anxious to see those smiling faces. Thanks everyone for commenting and be sure to watch the blog tomorrow when we'll be celebrating my 1 year anniversary date of treatment for Leukemia. Damn! what a ride!

Cathi