The Tough Times

I knew as I wrote my last blog post that the hard times were still to come, but nothing prepared me for this kind of fatigue and stomach pain. Having said that, I think I have been very lucky so far in terms of not getting a lot of the possible side-effects (so far), so I am thankful for that.

 Day +5 (Dec. 15) 

White Blood Count....................0.1
Hemoglobin..............................108
Platelets....................................71
Monday started out as another "OK" day. I was definitely feeling fatigued from the moment I woke up in the morning, but it wasn't bad. My stomach cramp issue was bearable because the doctor had started giving me Buscopan - an antispasmodic medication. It was a good day to be feeling alright, because my two friends Brad and Anna took an early morning Harbour Air flight from Victoria to visit me!

Brad and Anna also hung up some sweet prayer flags that they had made on the weekend with some of our other friends... so thanks, Brad, Anna, Jordie, Nicole, Jasmin, and Maddie... and Wes for the rap he wrote and performed as a video for me. You guys are the best group of friends a guy could ever need!!

Kaitlin also came up in the morning, so we had quite the party going on in my hospital room.

After a great morning hanging out and lunch, it was time to say goodbye to Brad and Anna. The timing of this couldn't have worked better because my stomach and bowels were really starting to hurt from eating lunch.

Kaitlin stayed around until the evening and we did some laps and had a much-needed nap together.

Monday evening was when things started to really go downhill. My bowel issues were getting worse, and the pain was so bad that the nurse had to give me some hydromorphone, which completely knocked me out for the rest of the evening. I did manage to walk 2.5 km throughout the day though, so that was good.

I woke up in pain several times throughout the night, and the nurses gave me more meds.

 Day +6 (Dec. 16) 

White Blood Count....................0.1

Hemoglobin...............................99
Platelets....................................40

I got some sad news today: Kaitlin had come down with a cold. So she's hanging out in Langley with my parents, having taken the last week off school before Christmas, unable to visit me. Let's hope that clears up soon!

I spent my entire day sleeping today, waking up periodically moan for more hydromorphone. The stomach/bowel pain was right up there with the pain I had when my tumour started breaking down this fall - I'd give it a 9/10 with 10 being the worst pain I've ever felt.

Jean came by with some soup and muffins for lunch but I didn't have much appetite for it.

In the afternoon I started to feel "chilled" so I took my temperature. Oh great - it was 38.3°C. As per the protocol, I had to give a urine sample, central and peripheral blood samples, and get a chest x-ray. I was then started on IV antibiotics. The doctor isn't expecting that anything will come back positive for infection, which is good news. Apparently it is quite normal to get a fever as the body responds to the chemotherapy and transplant process. Let's hope that's the case, anyways!

The rest of the evening went by in a daze and I was in bed by 9:00 PM. I only managed to walk 0.5 km today, which is 4 laps of the ward.

 Day +7 (Dec. 17) 

White Blood Count....................0.1
Hemoglobin...............................93
Platelets....................................14

Today has been the same as yesterday, so far. I am exceedingly fatigued and achy, due to my low blood counts and I am so cold from the fever which is currently at 39.4°C (almost 104°F). Most of my morning has been spent sleeping, but I did manage to get up and do two laps of the ward - 0.25 km. My nurse took this pouty picture for me.

Today I will receive a blood-transfusion for my platelets. Normally they wait until they get below 10, but since I have a fever the protocol is below 20.

Today I will also begin receiving G-CSF (Neupogen) shots to stimulate my bone marrow to begin pumping out some new blood cells. Hopefully those stem cells are sitting in there ready to go, and the G-CSF istimulates my bone marrow quickly!

Today was also the day that my hair started falling out in chunks, so at shower time I took the electric trimmer to my beard to it wouldn't get patchy as it falls out. The hair in the picture I just pulled out of my face with my fingertips - so easily!

That's all for now. I anticipate the rest of today will be spent sleeping, with periodic one-lap walks around the ward. It took me a LONG time to write this, so thanks for reading it.

Christopher