Thursday, August 4, 2011

Test day at LDS Hospital. Dale's schedule freed up so he can go with me. I'm glad, but I don't feel like I need him to.

Okay, find cardiology on the 7th floor for an echocardiogram and EKG. Easy stuff and nothing new there.

Down to the 6th floor and the pulmonary lab for breathing tests. How much can you blow out and how much can you suck in? Easy again.

Up to the 8th floor for lab work. Should be easy again. Sure! There are so many tubes to fill with blood (about 29) that the lab tech needs someone else to hand them to her. She's afraid my veins aren't going to hold out. We joke about her sucking out all my blood and then saving the last tube for the CBC to count blood cells.

At one point, I have her trying to give me information, the BMT coordinator talking to me about possibly speeding up the timing of the transplant, another tech putting a medical bracelet on me (to make labels for all those vials of blood), Dale trying to tell me what the plumber at our house is finding, a student nurse watching and trying to help, and 2-3 others popping in for various questions. How many people does it take to collect my blood? 5-7, depending on what point we're at in the process.

And we're not finished yet. They need a urine sample and a rectal swab(!) before they can let me go. Now that there's no dignity left in the world, I proceed to the 1st floor and radiology.

An easy chest x-ray later and Dale and I successfully navigate the long maze of temporary hospital corridors back to the makeshift hospital entrance (while they construct a new main entrance over the next 6-7 months). We almost make it to the valet station out in the driveway, when my cell phone rings.

"Trish? Are you still close to the hospital? We need you to come back to the 8th floor. You're platelet counts are dangerously low and we need to transfuse a unit." Oh joy!

We meander slowly back through the maze of corridors, up to the 8th floor, and spend another 1.5 hours waiting for yellow blood products to slowly drip through my port. But that's not quite enough because my red blood cells, hemoglobin, and hematocrit are also low. Not dangerously low and needing an immediate transfusion, but low enough that I need an order for another CBC at AF Hospital on Saturday morning. Then, I get to wait until the results are phoned in to LDS Hospital so they can decide if I need to head back to LDS on Saturday afternoon for another transfusion.

Whew! I'm tired. I'm even more tired now that I know how low my blood counts are. Can I just go home and sleep? Please? And I was thinking that Dale didn't need to come today.