Tuesday, April 24, 2007 12:54 PM, CDT

Hello
I went to the doctor’s office yesterday for blood work and Procrit. My red blood cells are at 9.9—the lowest they’ve been. They should be at least 12 and Procrit is offered when your levels dip below 11. The Procrit stimulates red blood cell growth. I’ve probably mentioned this before but I love to repeat myself.
The low red blood cell count would explain my absolute exhaustion. Are you so sick of hearing me say I’m tired??? I am!! I also had a slight fever yesterday. It hovered at right about 100. The doctors don’t start worrying until it’s 100.4 and my white blood cell count is fine so no one was overly concerned. The nurse recommended that I take my temp twice a day for the next few days. Twice a day? I’ve taken my temp about seven times already today. It’s going down but I’m a wee bit paranoid. I’d really rather know that I have a fever during office hours than make another visit to the ER. As nice as my doctor and my nurse were, that place is just no where I’d like to be. It’s almost like stepping through the looking glass.
My pulse is a little fast for me but my blood pressure is good. I have a moderate amount of fluid around my heart so I will go for an EKG next week to make sure I’m doing ok. What exactly constitutes a moderate amount of fluid? Good question! Apparently, there are no set terms a radiologist will use when pointing out certain things on a CT scan (or an x-ray or a PET scan, etc). The radiologist’s job is to point things out to the doctors so the doctors can determine if there is anything to worry about. For example, one radiologist could say I have a slight amount of fluid and another one could look at the scan and say I have a moderate amount of fluid. The last radiologist said I have a moderate amount of fluid. Everyone has fluid around their heart. And unless you’ve had a baseline scan (or any other scan), you wouldn’t know what your normal fluid amount is. So, I go for an EKG on May 2. I had one right before my biopsy in January. They’re a piece of cake.
What an absolutely beautiful weekend don’t you think?? Oh did it feel good to have the sun shine on us! Greg and I went out on Saturday night. We had a bunch of errands to run so we headed out to the shops in Millbury with the idea that we might grab a casual dinner while we were out. My appetite was still on the fence when we left the house. So we went in a few stores and were heading into Dick’s Sporting Goods. I love that store—but then again, there aren’t many stores I don’t like! I would love to be a personal shopper. I don’t care if it’s the mall, Lowe’s, Target, anywhere! I could shop every single day for anything—personal shopping would be the best job for me. I absolutely LOVE it!!
Anyway, we were walking into Dick’s and Greg asked me if I was up for having anything to eat. I responded, “Maybe a salad; Maybe a small appetizer. I’m not sure yet.” We walked around Dicks and I will tell you that all of a sudden I was absolutely famished…no kidding. I almost got mad at my body—have you ever been mad at your body???
I realize my body can’t help the fact that it has chemo pumped into it every other week. However, you can’t be nauseas and have no appetite whatsoever for at least four days and then all of a sudden bam! Need food. Right NOW!!! I practically ran to the register and said to Greg, “I need to eat. And I need to eat a huge meal. Not just a salad, not just an appetizer but the whole thing!” I told Greg I was mad at my body and he thought I was a little weird. You’d think the guy would know me well enough to know that I’m a lot weird!!! Anyway, we ran to Pizzeria Uno and I stuffed my face with an appetizer, a salad, a meal and dessert!! J
While we were out, my cousin, Lauren O’Neil, watched the kids. Not only did she watch my kids but she cleaned their rooms. She cleaned their rooms!!!! Thank you Lauren!! Greg and I wish we had known she had cleaned their rooms because we would have paid her more. She really deserves some hazard pay for tackling those disaster areas. I know I said we were going to clean them last week but we just didn’t do it. I need to really get in there by myself and throw some stuff out and organize. But for now, Lauren made it possible to actually be able to walk in their rooms! J Thank you, Thank You Lauren!
I’ll keep you all updated.
Love,
Kim