My leukemia's back.

[lazy gardener]

Hey Rachel! The winter is slowly retreating here in Maine. The wind blows like a banshee every day now. But, I've seen 45-50* for several days in a row. Snow is down to about 2.5' in the open areas. Collecting eggs for the great hatching experiment of 2015. If you're bored, you can check it out in the incubation thread. Take care, get well. You're in my daily prayers.

 

[donrae]

I HAVE NEUTROPHILS!!!!!

My mouth was doing a little better yesterday, today I'm going to ask to have the pain pump reduced so I only get a dose when I push the button. Ate little bits of applesauce yesterday and it did fine. I have Diet Coke sitting here on my bedside table. Just not sure if I'm ready for it or not, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to find out. Ordered some cream of wheat also. I'm so ready to get off all these IVs!

So, my ANC was 56 this am. When I hit 500 for two days in a row I can be discharged to the motel and start being seen outpt at the clinic. In theory the ANC can double every day, but mine has never done that. Mine's like a hen that flirts with being broody--up a little, down a little, up a little more, down a touch, then finally makes up it's mind and gets down to business. I"m hoping to be discharged by next Friday

Thank you all so much for the pictures--Blooie those hummingbirds are wonderful! I'm so glad your community is helping her out. I'm a big fan of just shaving/buzzing the hair when you're diagnosed. Nothing would be worse to me than having even shoulder length hair and having it do the falling out in clumps thing...that would be so discouraging. Mine was back to peach fuzz when the chemo caught up with me this time, and it only took 2 days for it to pretty much all fal out. I'd sit there and pull at it to encourage it to fall out, also. Scrub it well in the shower, etc. The patchy/tufts look just isn't good on anyone

Now, it's just a matter of dealing with graft vs host disease when it shows up. Between the steroids and the TPN, my sugars are through the roof--up to 350 at times. That freaks me out! They brought in an internal medicine consult who is going to be managing my sugars and insulin, but I'm hopeful it will be a moot point here in a day or so, if I can tolerate food I'm going to be off this stuff!

Okay, update on the Diet coke--carbonation is not so good with the magic mouthwash. The mouthwash is equal parts Maalox, Benadryl and Lidocaine. It coats and numbs the membranes in the mouth and you're not supposed to rinse it off before you eat or drink. Well, something in the mixture reacts to the carbonation and I wound up with a horrible mouthfull of fizz that spilled down my throat

We'll just let that set a while and try again.......blech!

 

[3goodeggs]

Glad to hear from you!

We are all so glad when you post!

I was thinking jello might be a good way to get some protein into you, or pudding.
Then I thought about institutional jello and thought of this :

 

[Blooie]

Great to hear from you!! Applesauce, huh? Good deal! That's one food group down, a few more to go.

As soon as you said you had a diet Coke waiting to be savored, I wondered, "How can she do the carbonation with her mouth sores?" Not so well, huh? That ain't good!

I should point out that it's not my community that is being so generous for my little neice Ashley - she lives about 700 miles from me. Glad you are enjoying the hummingbird pictures. I just love those little critters!

 

[Bunnylady]

Happy dance for neutrophils!

Maybe I shouldn't laugh, but it sounds like the magic mouthwash makes a good stand-in for the infamous "Diet Coke and Mentos" reaction.

(For some reason, I don't think the staff would appreciate you trying to replicate these guys' experiments . . . .)

Still praying, as always, and believing that, whatever is good about today, tomorrow will be even better!

 

[Outpost JWB]

Clean up!

Rachel, Very super excited that you have Neutrophils!

GO NEUTROPHILS! GO!

 

[FridayYet]

SO happy your ANC is coming up! My dad started chemo Tuesday, so on Monday he shaved off what little hair he had so he wouldn't have to mess with it falling out. He just trimmed his beard short and we'll wait and see what happens with that.

Too funny about the magic mouthwash and diet coke! I had a patient do a similar thing to me - he turned around to look at me while he had foam pouring out of his mouth. He was a young guy, around 20, so we got a good laugh out of it as I cleaned up.

Hang in there! Hope your counts keep rising

 

[lazy gardener]

Enlighten me please. ANC? I assume it has something to do with the neutrophils. Here's my happy dance for you!

My kids like to eat apple sauce and vanilla yogurt together. I like both, but never together! Do you like yogurt?

 

[sourland]

Been here in spirit - back in reality (sort of.) Yes, applesauce and YES neutrophils.

bluesub and Blooie - good updates on your loved ones.

 

[Blooie]

Good morning, Team Rachel!