Red Right Blog |
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Rants, Rates, Slags, Slates. Manic-depressive posts from Red Wright-Hand. Because there are thousands of worthless blogs out there and who am I not to add to their number?
Total US troop deaths in Iraq to date (09/01/07) since 03/20/03: 3739
From 05/02/03 through 06/28/04: 718 Myeloma (etc.) Blogs
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Saturday, June 24, 2006
APHERESIS ME TO PIECES: Seeing as how I have now begun my long-term stay within the U of Penna Health System (and likely risking a lawsuit by posting about it), I feel I should add a few more words about my condition. The nurse just gave me some dexamethasone so that should keep me going for at least a good 30 minutes. Because I agreed to participate in a clinical drug study, I was allowed to stay in a free hotel room virtually on the hospital premises. That was some relief, as having to haul my ass back home every day after they were done harvesting my stem cells would have been just too much trouble. And the neupogen kills your appetite and otherwise depletes your energy and will to travel. So, Monday morning the 12th, I got a double-headed catheter implanted in my chest, in order to facilitate the harvesting. Take that, pierced children of the 21st century! I will post a picture when able:  I flatter myself that I now resemble a distant cousin of the Predator. Later that night, I got my first shot of the clinical study drug, apparently of the same family as neupogen, and also apparently just as good as queasing up my stomach. That caused some problems with the next morning, as I couldn't eat breakfast, and I learned the rough way that the apheresis process does not mesh well with an empty belly. After an hour of being hooked up to the machine, my head felt like a party balloon with little bits of sand being blown around inside of it. Why I didn't heave, I'll never understand. This first day's process took three hours, by the end of which my folks had shown up, and gently led be back to my hotel room. They also very kindly left me some take out which I couldn't possibly eat. Ah, but there was good news after all. Much later I picked up a phone message from one of the nurses handling my case, informing me that my first day's harvesting was a tremendous success: 5.4 million stem cells collected, out of a hoped-for total of six million. Looks like the neupogen and study drug were doing their jobs, and I'd have only one more day of harvesting. I celebrated by fainting. Saturday, June 10, 2006
MEANWHILE: Just as I come out of casual retirement, I find another Philadelphian announcing his retreat from blogging. Which is a shame, as this Sheepshank fellow is an engaging writer, witness this excellent description of a Center City alley, perhaps the best evocation of downtown Philadelphia I have ever read. Better still, he's a huge Mike Watt fan, and I suppose we passed each other at one or another of the man's local performances. Don't give up now, pal, I need all the local distractions I can get. CANCER CALENDAR: The doctor overseeing my transplant pushed my schedule back a week when I met with him on June 1. So instead of beginning pre-transplant medication (injections of neupogen to stimulate white-cell production), I began yesterday, when I was shown how to admininister the neupogen myself. Such fun. I've got a couple of doses cooling in the fridge right now, with one due in a couple hours. No side effects from yesterday's initial dose, let's hope that continues. Tomorrow night I move into a hotel right at the hospital for a few days, for the sake of convenience. I've got a lot of early-morning appointments beginning the 12th, starting with implantation of a catheter (in my chest, I think) for the harvesting of my stem cells. At night, a nurse is scheduled to drop by my room for the duration, not for any fun, but to give me doses of a chemo-drug being used in a new clinical trial. The harvesting should be finished by the end of the week, and I expect to enter the hospital as an official transplant patient on the 20th, when they begin re-infusing me with my cleaned-up stem cells. I'm not enjoying this one bit, and wish I had a jar of anti-depressants/sedatives on hand. I sure understand, more than I ever have before, why people become substance abusers. |
