She came back and got me and said no blood has been ordered either. I explained to her who it was that called me and that she asked me to have another blood test on Saturday so they could match my blood. She then checked my blood results from saturday and said my haemoglobin was 86, so didn't need blood anyway! I was pretty happy with that because I hate having blood transfusions and didn't fancy sitting there for 5 hours while it happened!
In October 2012 at age 25 I was diagnosed with stage 3 Hodgkin's Lymphoma, this is my story about the fight for my life.
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Blood Transfusion Confusion
Monday Sam and I headed into the RAH for my 9:30am PICC dressing appointment. When I got there I asked if my blood could be given earlier so I didn't have to wait around for it, the lady behind the desk said that she would ask the Nurse who was looking after me that day. I waited in the waiting room until my Nurse came and got me, I asked her about my blood and she said that she didn't know anything about it, so went to check with the ladies behind the desk. We then realised that no appointment had been made for me. I went back and sat in the waiting room while they tried to figure out what was going on.
Friday, June 21, 2013
Day 8
Tuesday 18th June was day 8. My appointment was at 9am and Sam's Mum came with me. My haemoglobin from the day before was 86. The nurse told me to make sure I get another blood test on Thursday (I always do anyway). Thursday came around and I woke up feeling pretty flat and tired so knew my level had decreased. Sheena (IMVS nurse) come's to my house at around 11am. I then wait until about 4pm to see if I am going to get a phone call from the RAH telling me I need to come in for a blood transfusion, sure enough 4:30pm came and I got that phone call. They can't get me in until 11am on Monday 24th though. Works out better as I was already going in for a PICC dressing anyway so means I don't have to try and find someone to take me on another day, but just means I will be feeling pretty flat for the weekend. Tuesday and Wednesday night I also had pretty bad indigestion, which mylanta doesn't seem to do anything for!
I was just looking at my "stats" for my blog and thought i would share with you where my "readers" come from. It's interesting to see that it has readers in other countries and nice to know that people are reading this haha!
Monday, June 17, 2013
Time goes fast..
Wow that 4 weeks went quickly!! Tuesday 11th June I had day 1 of round 6! I would normally have it on Monday's but we had the Queens Birthday public holiday so it was postponed until Tuesday. I had a meeting with my oncologist at 8:30am before my scheduled appointment for chemo at 9:30am.
I spoke with my oncologist about what is going to happen after my chemo has finished. He said I could get my PICC line out after my last chemo, but wanted me to wait at least 2 weeks to see if I will need blood that round. I think I might wait until after my scans in the middle of september though, so I don't need a cannula put in for each of them. I will have a CT and a PET scan. If the PET scan shows any activity I will then need to have another biopsy done to confirm that it is cancer activity and not just scar tissue. If its cancer I will then go on to have radiation, I am not exactly sure how much of this I would need. If the PET shows no activity, then that's great, I will not need radiation. If its activity and the biopsy shows its just scar tissue, then no radiation either!! He wanted me to get a blood test done before I started my chemo that to check my platelet levels were high enough to have it.
My appointment wasn't until 9:30am but they took me through at 9am to do the blood test as they knew it would take a while to get the results back. They did my PICC line dressing while I waited. I had to wait about an hour or so before my results came back and chemo started, my platelets were fine. We got home about 1pm, I was feeling a little nauseas so spent the rest of the day in bed.
Day 2 and 3, were both ok.
So that brings us to tomorrow, which will be day 8, last chemo day of cycle 6. After tomorrow I will have 8 chemo days left and 2 cycles!!
I spoke with my oncologist about what is going to happen after my chemo has finished. He said I could get my PICC line out after my last chemo, but wanted me to wait at least 2 weeks to see if I will need blood that round. I think I might wait until after my scans in the middle of september though, so I don't need a cannula put in for each of them. I will have a CT and a PET scan. If the PET scan shows any activity I will then need to have another biopsy done to confirm that it is cancer activity and not just scar tissue. If its cancer I will then go on to have radiation, I am not exactly sure how much of this I would need. If the PET shows no activity, then that's great, I will not need radiation. If its activity and the biopsy shows its just scar tissue, then no radiation either!! He wanted me to get a blood test done before I started my chemo that to check my platelet levels were high enough to have it.
My appointment wasn't until 9:30am but they took me through at 9am to do the blood test as they knew it would take a while to get the results back. They did my PICC line dressing while I waited. I had to wait about an hour or so before my results came back and chemo started, my platelets were fine. We got home about 1pm, I was feeling a little nauseas so spent the rest of the day in bed.
Day 2 and 3, were both ok.
So that brings us to tomorrow, which will be day 8, last chemo day of cycle 6. After tomorrow I will have 8 chemo days left and 2 cycles!!
Friday, June 7, 2013
Blood Transfusion
June 5th - I had 2 bags of blood today. I took my temperature before I left for the hospital and it was 37.3 so I was worried that by the time i got there it would be higher. At the start of each transfusion they take your blood pressure, heart rate and temperature. My heart rate was 150 and my temperature was 37.8! The nurse rang my doctor to ask what he wanted her to do. He said my heart was fine as that's normal for me, to keep going with the transfusion and to give me panadol to see what happens with my temperature, if I spiked at 38 to stop the transfusion and to call him again. She took my temperature about an hour after the panadol and it was 37.7. I had a beanie on that covered my ears so we thought it could be that, that was making me hot and giving me a higher reading, so I folded it above them to see if the next reading would be lower. I finished the first bag of blood and she took my temp again, this time it was 37.1, yay!! Blood cultures were also taken to be sent off to see if I had an infection. One more bag of blood was given and temp taken at the end, 37.2, so I was free to go home!!
Monday, June 3, 2013
Round 5/8
Monday 20th May - I wasn't sure if i would be having chemo or not as on Friday my platelets were too low. I headed off to the IMVS clinic to get a blood test, she told me she didn't know if the hospital would have my results by the time I was due in for chemo. We went home for a bit and then headed into the RAH. My platelets had increased from 47 Friday to 100, so was able to proceed with chemo, yay! I started the base dose of BEACOPP, which now means I have 3 less tablets to take!!
Tuesday 21st May - Round 5 Day 2. Nothing to report
Wednesday 22nd May - Round 5 Day 3. Nothing to report
Friday 24th May - Needed 2 bags of blood today as my haemoglobin was 78. This brings the total bags of blood to 10!
Monday 27th May - Round 5 day 8! This time they just dripped the chemo through rather then pumping it. This seems to have made the side effects of these particular drugs a lot less! Tingling in fingers and toes hasn't been as bad and the indigestion, even though still there not as bad as last round.
Monday 3rd June - I went in for a PICC line dressing today and had a blood test while i was there. Blood results from last thursday for haemoglobin was 93 so I thought i would be alright and not need blood this round! I thought wrong, got a phone call when I got home saying it had dropped to 81, so I will need to go in on Wednesday and have 2 bags of blood. It does explain why I have been feeling so flat and tired the last few days. Total now 12!!
Tuesday 21st May - Round 5 Day 2. Nothing to report
Wednesday 22nd May - Round 5 Day 3. Nothing to report
Friday 24th May - Needed 2 bags of blood today as my haemoglobin was 78. This brings the total bags of blood to 10!
Monday 27th May - Round 5 day 8! This time they just dripped the chemo through rather then pumping it. This seems to have made the side effects of these particular drugs a lot less! Tingling in fingers and toes hasn't been as bad and the indigestion, even though still there not as bad as last round.
Monday 3rd June - I went in for a PICC line dressing today and had a blood test while i was there. Blood results from last thursday for haemoglobin was 93 so I thought i would be alright and not need blood this round! I thought wrong, got a phone call when I got home saying it had dropped to 81, so I will need to go in on Wednesday and have 2 bags of blood. It does explain why I have been feeling so flat and tired the last few days. Total now 12!!
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