The Lost Days

Day 9 through 30

I'm writing here on Day 30 (May 25) about all that has happened over the past 20 days. First, though I was told that things would get worse around day 9 or 10, I was totally unprepared for this. It was a complete Gob-Smack, two-by-four to the head type experience. It's still somewhat of a blur, but I'll try to recall it based on notes I've kept.

May 4 - Day 9

I was feeling pretty good on day 8 as the chemo was finishing. I was even free of the IV for a few hours, like a normal person. But the next day I started to get very tired. My cell counts had dropped to rock bottom - platelets at four (normally 150-400), white count essentially zero (normally over 4). All expected though.

May 5 - Day 10

Day 10 was about the worst. Started at about 5 am when I woke up on the washroom floor. I had fainted, fortunately I'm about three inches taller than the WR was long so my head and feet wedged against opposite walls instead of smashing on the floor. I fainted twice more that day, including during a chest xray - never felt dizzy, just was concious followed by not so much. Also this day the doctors noticed rash / spots on my face and thought I might have shingles. Just what I need. Experts were brought in and decided it was just some minor rash, pimple-type thing. One in the plus column anyway. Also received platelets today. And another fun thing - started getting diarrhea about every 2 hours. This will continue for about two weeks.

May 6 - Day 11

Correction - day 11 was about the worst. I stared to get hiccups. Now, the way I fugre it there are two kinds of hiccups. Mild ones you get, maybe after eating, that are random and fairly spread out and go away after a few minutes. Then there are the more serious ones that are stronger and more frequent and tend to last longer. I started with these, but they were pretty bad in that they were happening every 5 or 6 seconds, and sometimes would overlap. Absolutley no chance to relax or calm down here. And guess what? I now discovered there is a THIRD type of Hiccup. These are completely coordinated in a band across your chest, happen every 2 to 3 secconds, overlap each other, and are quite painful. I counted 167 of these in ten minutes, which works out to 1000/hour. Therefore they shall forevermore be known as Khiccups. Eventually I got a pill that lowered the khics to hics, and eventually stopped them. But I never want to experience that again.

May 7 - Day 12

Not much today. Got platelets, had a CT scan, ate nothing.

May 8 - Day 13

Received red blood cells today. This makes me an official vampire. By my rules, if you have both given blood and received blood, you're a vampire. No need to kill, bite necks, dance under a full moon, etc. As I mentioned in another post, Al Lewis is the best role model here - forget about Depp, Pitt, Pattenson, etc.

May 9-11 - Day 14-16

Feeeling generally lowsy. Weak and uninterested in anything. Just lying about. Low in several fluids (potassium, phosphates, magnesium, etc.) so on all kinds of IVs. More input equals more output of course. Started to notice significant hair loss around day 16.

May 12 - Day 17

Chest Xray, CT Scan, Cough started.

May 13 - Day 18

Cough gets worse, fevers. Lots of IVs, tylenol.

May 14 - Day 19

Weight own 14 lbs. Another CT scan. As dinner arrives, I'm taken off all food and liquids by mouth. Can't stand not being able to drink. Must also measure all 'outputs'. Covenient and fun! (see last bit of day 10.)

May 15 - Day 20

Awful day. Had the hiccups all night. (Not the khics, a least.) Took hiccup pill but it worked only for an hour or so then they came back. Also, haemoglobin was low, so a red cell transfusion was required. Because many other fluid levels were also low, I was moved to the Intensive Care Unit, room D438. Here the nurses only have two patients, so you get very good attention. Unfortunately you are permanently hooked up to so many monitors that you ae completely bedridden. Tht means bedpans. And if you remember what I said on day 10, this was not a pleasant experience.

May 16 - Day 21

I'm now allowed clear fluids, but I haven't eaten (or drank) anything in two days. I get a fever later in the day and take some tylenol to lower it.

May 17 - Day 22

Another fever in the morning, and tylenol. Ultrasound of my liver mid day. More fever and tylenol in the evening. Also low on phosphates, so more IVs.

May 18 - Day 23

Moved back to C2 unit, room 32, to an isolation room. This is a normal room (single!) and is much more convenient since I can plug my IV pump into the washroom plug and move from bed to washroom without unplugging anything. Just having access to a washroom after the ICU is amazing. Diarrhea is diminishing greatly now, to about half waht it was. In the next few dys it'll go to very infrequent, and completely managable.

May 19 - Day 24

Uneventful. No fevers, just normal IVs and getting along. Starting to feel pretty normal.

May 20 - Day 25

Blood transfusion due to low haemoglobin levels.

May 21 - Day 26

Moved from isolation into normal room C246. My old roommate Dave is here. Get cough medicine a couple of times, and normal IVs (antibiotics, various fluids), but feeling pretty good, though tired.

May 22-24 - Day 27-29

More of same. Feeling well - ready to go home when they let me. Just on fluids and antibiotics. Somehwat tired, but much more alert and energetic than before. Really just hanging about. Had CT scan on the 23rd.

May 25 - Day 30

Needed red blood cells today. Otherwise we are waiting for white cell counts to rise and for a bone marrow biopsy on Monday (28th).