Showing posts with label anemia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anemia. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Week 16

Well this has not been the best time. I had a horrible weekend, unable to get up off the couch or out of bed without being seriously short of breath. My hct on Friday was 26. They ran some tests to make sure I don't have any clots, which I don't, so all my symptoms are from the anemia. My doctor called me at 4:30 on Friday to say I could get a blood transfusion if I wanted to.

I went in yesterday for the transfusion. 2 units took 4 1/2 hours to infuse, so it was a long day. Today I feel about 50% better than yesterday. My doctor says the anemia is a side-effect from the AC and it's just going to take time for my red blood cells to re-build themselves. The Abraxane (that I'm on now) isn't shown to cause anemia the way the Adriamycin does. Hopefully this transfusion will give my cells a little jump start to get busy!

I was going to go into work today, but I'm pretty dizzy and shaky... my body is getting used to all that extra fluid. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to work tomorrow. In the meantime I'm drinking electrolyte water and eating protein and hoping this shakiness goes away.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Week 15

Last week was quite difficult, dealing with the effects of anemia. It's been very difficult to change how I do things in order to accomodate a lowered amount of oxygen in my body. I kept having to tell myself, "slow down, walk slower" which was a huge pain! At the parking garage where I park to catch the bus, I had to take the elevator DOWN. All these little things that you don't think about until you are forced to.

My labs on Friday still show my red blood cell levels dropping, with a hct of 27 and hgb of 9.2. If my hct gets to 25 we start talking blood transfusion. I'm confident, though, that my levels will be up this week. Today is the 10th day since I got the shot of darbo to increase my red blood cell production. Since red blood cells take 10 days to die and regenerate, I should start feeling better this week. I really hit a low point on Saturday though. I was very short of breath and quite dizzy when standing. It was hard to catch my breath even when sitting or lying down. By Sunday I was feeling better and today is even better than yesterday. This morning I had to get off the bus a block early due to a car accident and I managed to walk at a fairly normal pace to the cash machine and the coffee shop before going into my building, probably about 3 1/2 blocks all together, without getting too winded.

On Saturday I was supposed to go to Kitchen 2 Kitchen to make meals with my friend, but there was no way I could make it. She managed to do all of my meals as well as hers with the help of another friend and the owner, for which I am extremely grateful. I've been eating frozen dinners because I don't have the energy to cook, so this will be much healthier and better tasting! After the meals were dropped off, my step-mom came over and vacuumed for me and my sister did poop patrol in my yard. My brother-in-law even brought me some chicken pad thai for dinner. Despite the bad day I was having, it was wonderful to have a lot of help.

On Sunday my step-mom and dad came over and did some more cleaning and poop patrol (they brought their dog) and generally just hung out. It was nice to have them over and just have some company for awhile.

Today I'm back at work and feeling much better. I was going to talk to my boss about working 3 days this week and doing some work from home, but now I'm not sure I will need to. I think I'll bring it up as an "as-needed" thing, just in case my bubble bursts tomorrow.

When I walked past this car accident this morning, there was a mini-van on it's side. I have to wonder, how does this happen on a city street? I can understand it on the freeway or a rural road, but on a city street? I don't get it. Maybe it was t-boned, but it wasn't in the middle of the intersection. Weird.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Week 14

This is my 2nd dose of Abraxane. My labs show that I am anemic.. my hematocrit is 29 and hemoglobin is 9.7, so I got a shot of darbypoetin to boost red blood cell production. It takes awhile though... a couple weeks. In the meantime, I have all the wonderful symptoms of anemia: shortness of breath, rapid heart rate, dizziness and of course, fatigue. My iron levels are fine though, and as of now I don't need anymore iron sucrose.

I've also noticed that with the Abraxane, I don't have a huge appetite. Normally this wouldn't bother me, but with the anemia it's important that I eat, so I end up forcing myself to eat sometimes, which is no fun!

I took a couple pictures on Friday, one of my IV bag and one of me getting the juice:

IV 9-19-08

chemo 9-19-08