Hi, its Ann

Typing here to share my blood cancer adventure.

BLOOD – Finishing up Day -3

Have finished the first batch of hospital chemo!
Next two days are rest days.
Side effects for this round have been minimal so far.
Yesterday my mouth stopped registering sweet things which is a bummer.
My appetite vanished today.
It is what it is, it will improve at some point.

Got some more details for Friday, Day Zero.
The airplane from Germany with the stem cells will be arriving in the afternoon.
I will get some Tylenol and Benadryl 30 minutes before they arrive at the hospital.
As soon as the goods arrive they will be hooked up and infused into me via a gravity IV drip.
Very little different than my other infusions of blood products (red blood cells, platelets).
Because it is a gravity drip it will probably take longer than most of my infusions but won’t know until we do it.
I’ve also been told that the volume of the donation bags can vary widely so we won’t know what we are working with until they are here.

Got a treadmill in my room today so I can take walks in my room instead of walking the halls wearing a mask.

I think I’m going to have a wee rebel moment tomorrow.
I’m supposed to shower daily and then after I shower I have to wash with a set of six thick anti-bacterial wipes.
The shower taking prior to the towel wipes is a LOT.
They tape stuff over my open ports with the goal of keeping that area dry.
Of the four showers and the four methods of taping so far, none have been amazing and all have been very very awkward.
I’m going to see if tomorrow I can just do the set of six wipes and skip the shower part.

Things will be pretty quiet for the next two days.
Vitals every four hours.
Meds whenever they hand me little cups with drugs in them which seems to happen at least six times per day…these also change often depending on what my 4am daily bloodwork shows.

Anyhoo.
All is moving forward.
Slowly but surely.

Responses

  1. andrew s. Avatar
    andrew s.

    Given your history of walking tours, and knowing how tedious stationary bicycles can be, my money sez that the treadmill was a very good choice for you.
    And I’m with you-what’s the fun of bathing if you just have to clean up from the bath?!?
    Press on and hang tough.

  2. Courtney Avatar

    Hope you enjoy your 2 rest days! Cheering you on from Saint Paul! ❀️

  3. Kurt Avatar

    Thanks for keeping up with these posts!

    1. Ann Avatar

      I had every intention of typing yesterday but the nausea took over the day!
      Today I will get out the laptop.
      : )

  4. Katie Jacobson Avatar
    Katie Jacobson

    When I had my picc line in, it seemed like the thing that worked best for showering was Press and Seal Wrap and medical tape. Not sure how helpful that will be with how many tubes you have.

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