Well the day started off with a high temperature again and when my blood results came back, they noticed that my hematocrit and platelets were low but my white count was on the rise. Because of the low hematocrit, they decided to give me two units of blood along with the antibiotics that I had been scheduled for. As the hours went on, I felt quite fine. I had a few minor headaches and some minor back pain but other than that, I felt okay. Towards the end of the second unit of transfused blood, I began feeling absolutely terrrible. I started coughing like crazy. I was coughing up yellow think liquid and had no idea why. My lungs were very congested and it was almost as if I had contracted a lung infection or pneumonia in just a matter of seconds.
Regardless of the lung situation, I elected to jump in the shower to hopefully loosen up some of this congestion and maybe make myself feel a little better. As I was showering, it only got worse. I was coughing so badly that I was starting to vomit. Now I knew something more serious was going on but I still couldn’t figure it out. My first inclicnation was that I was having an allergic reaction to one of the 50 bags of fluids that they had been pumping into me that morning. Hives began developing on my left arm and my upper chest area was becoming very blotchy. Keep in mind, I have NEVER had an allergic reaction to anything. I had never even seen a hive before…so I was kind of freakin out.
I got out of the shower and threw myself in bed barely able to breath. My lungs, by this time, were now probably coated with these hives and I was extremely short of breath. Sure enough, I was having a reaction to the blood that was being transfused. They bombarded me with hydrocortisone and benedryl to counter the effects, which seemed to work in a short amount of time.
After I had “recovered” from this attack, I began to feel a little more normal and I could somewhat prepare for some of the vistors that came today.
My first visitor was an old friend growing up. Mitch and I hazve known each other since 2nd grade. Through the years, we became more and more disconnected, as do most people who know each other through high school. But we still got a large amount of time to catch up and talk. I was very happy to see him come through the door and hope to see him again sometime. Thanks, Mitch!
Mike and Megan came by soon after that. Mike was now sporting his new hair cut as well. My father also made a big change! Although he has grown and shaved his beard many many times, my father has NEVER shaved his mustache!
Steve and Ashley also came by to watch the Packer game with us, and boy what a game it was. Started off we were all pretty stressed out about it, but as the minutes wore on, we had more and more to cheer for. Great job Pack and we look forward to watching you in the NFC Championship next week!
Towards the end of the night I was really starting to get tired, but two of my friends from Whitewater were already in the area planning for a visit. Derrik and Adam walked in and they both wanted to shave their heads. For Adam, we just buzzed off everything. However, much like we did with Tom the other day, we tried to get creative with Derrik. We shaved a “crown” shape into Derrik’s hair. We figured that if he used enough gel product that he could probably get to look like a crown. My guess is that it wont last 24 hours and he will shave the rest of it off by tomorrow night.
Oh some last minute good news, I got some more results back from the biopsy. It turns out something like 2-3% of the cells in my bone marrow were leukemic. Anything under 5% and I am considered to be in remission. Now the next steps are one round of consolidation chemotherapy followed by a bone marrow transplant. I’ll give you all more details for the transplant and consolidation chemo in the near future.
Anyways, these headaches are still driving me absolutely crazy so I think I am going to miss the Patriots game tonight and head to bed. Let me know how they did tomorrow!
Good night everyone!
Eric