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Day 1
Beginning Numbers: WBC(1.2) RBC(2.79) HGB(9.1) HCT(25.4) PLT (35)
Premeds started at 8am ..
Doctor comes in at 9:30.. We visit for a while about yesterdays festivities .. he's a little aggravated and says that he's now written explicit instructions regarding my care .. (and to his credit, they are quite explicit)
Around 10am the big bag of ATG shows up .. I've now talked to the nurse and they are answering questions that make it sound like they know what they are doing .. They can clearly identify the expected reactions and we've walked through the monitoring program -- which matches what the Doctor and I've already discussed.
The ATG starts .. it will be about 10 hours at the selected flow rate. Things are looking up. About 6 hours into this without any reaction (other than the indigestion due to the awful food) I'm starting to feel a bit cocky .. after yesterdays festivities things are really feeling pretty mild ... then it gets cold .. so cold .. I am chilled ... The nurse has been in and out of my room often, but never more than 10 minutes of abandonment -- at first they never left my side, but as things progress without incident there was a little relaxing of the process. We even joke about it a little. However, this time when he comes in and sees me he acts quickly. He turns up the IV on the saline and hits me with solumedral .. calls someone stating we are having a reaction .. I'm not sure what transpires again but I'm shaking and on O2 again .. The doctor has been called and they've pushed Meperidine as I am hurting along the chest .. my respiration is feeling impaired and my heart rate is sky high. The chest pains grow into my back and my entire left side is feeling like its being crushed .. They turn up the o2 and push morphine. Its worse .. they called the doctor .. I can hear the nurse on the phone with him .. I'm now covered in multiple blankets and oh-my-god it hurts .. they push morphine again. and like someone hit a switch its gone .. and I'm back .. Dripping wet again .. but its like nothing happened. The rest of the night was uneventful.
Day 2
Beginning Numbers: WBC(1.8) RBC(2.15) HGB(7.1) HCT(19.9) PLT (12)
Obviously the ATG has hammered my platelets pretty hard .. so we are going to start the day with a platelet transfusion. This is quite a bit different as they've appeared to have had some serious regrooving and we are prepping like for a major surgery (I find this a welcome change) The doctors orders are followed to the letter. At no time did my nurse leave the room and -- thankfully enough -- no reaction .. smooth as glass.
The doctor comes in about 10:30 and we chat a little about the progress and he says not to be concerned about the platelet drop "Things will get lower before they get better"
ATG gets started about 11:30 .. higher rate this time -- only 6 hours. A few hot flashes but no other reaction directly related to the ATG.
I'm starting to having trouble with over-hydration, they put me on Lasix (Ghods I hate Lasix) So I spend all night getting out of bed .. peeing .. go back to sleep .. 15 minutes later .. repeat .. for 3-4 hours .. finally things shut down about 3am ..
[ I've run out of time so I will finish Day 3-4-5 tonight or tomorrow ]
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