WOW, yesterday (8/9/2022) was a day, a really long one at that. My transfusion appointment was scheduled for 8am at Hoag in Newport, so of course we arrived right on time. We went in with no expectations other than for me to have more energy post transfusion. They took me back, Chris could not come, at around 8:15. Re-drew my blood to determine what my blood type was to match me with a donor. The nurse told us this process takes about 15 minutes on a normal day, but of course, they were having issues at the lab and it took 1.5 hours to get my results back. So here we are, it’s now 10am and we are told that the entire transfusion process will take 2 hours per bag, and I need 2 bags, so expect to be done around 2:30pm. 2:30pm rolls around and I am itching to go, but of course my last bag isn’t complete. The nurses then realize that the saline bag had somehow switched over and the blood transfusion had stopped, soooo back we go to the blood bag, leaving me there an additional hour to complete. An additional 2 hours of sitting around waiting yesterday made me exhausted and agitated. Post transfusion I was feeling better, but waking up this morning I felt A LOT better. No head fuzzies, no shortness of breath just going up and down our stairs, the transfusion gave me the energy I needed.
The facility at Hoag was noisy, crowded and hard to get some rest even with the Benadryl they had given me, I had a really hard time relaxing as the energy there wasn’t the peaceful Keck I am used to. Plus, they checked my vitals after the first 15 minutes of each new bag and then again, every hour. It definitely wasn’t Keck and I missed the nurses that I’ve become so comfortable with. However, the nurse I got must have been fate. Her name was Sherry and she was so sweet. We got to talking and she told me she was diagnosed in November 2021 with Triple Negative Breast Cancer, just like me, and had finished her treatments in April with her surgery in May and had only been back to work for about 6 weeks. It was really nice to talk to someone who has recently gone through this, we swapped stories of food issues, emotions, how we countdown every little thing, etc, etc. I was grateful I could have a nurse that could actually relate to how I was feeling. She told me she had a blood transfusion around week 10 of her treatments and then didn’t have to have one again, so hopefully that is the one and only time I’ll need one during the remainder of my 6 treatments, but I am glad I did it because it helped me feel a lot better and all I want is to feel as normal as possible.
Fast forward to today, treatment #10 is COMPLETE, 6 more to go! Getting there and making steps forward, that’s all I can ask for. Finally, I’ve made it to the double digits. I walked in to treatment today with color in my face and energy I haven’t felt in weeks. The nurses were so happy to see that I was doing better that when they drew my blood before the infusion, they were shocked that my hemoglobin count went from 7.6 to 11! Apparently, it’s normal to jump 1-2 points, but to nearly double that goal was exactly what they wanted to see. My mom took me to treatment today, was an excellent nurse and got me snacks and made sure I was ok, and of course told me she loved me along the way. It was a bit longer of a treatment today, there were delays in the pharmacy in getting my meds so they didn’t actually start my infusion until about 2:45pm. I’ll be curious how this coming week treats me now that I’ve had the transfusion and will be documenting all the things.
This week has been draining, physically and mentally tough, but I am reminded of my creed and embracing it’s every word. I’ve been reading a quote each morning and the other day was about moving forward and that’s exactly what I am doing, moving forward – checking the days off, checking the treatments off – making progress and trying not to look back.
All my love,
Lauren
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