To start off with, I'm feeling MUCH better and there is light at the end of the tunnel!!
I woke up on Sunday feeling like I stayed up all night partying. When in reality I hung out with Sarah and Toni at Toni's Dad's new house and had a slumber party (yes, I still have slumber parties at age 28). It was a very relaxing evening on the patio by the pool :). Sarah and I drove home together that morning and right away we both knew something wasn't right. I was uber tired, coughing, sore throat, and only wanted to sleep the day away. I got home, napped, and woke up ready to feel refreshed. Instead, I felt worse and burst into tears. My head hurt and I knew right away - it was a fever. Normally, not a big deal. But as of last week white counts bottomed out so I knew I had to call my on-call doc. First I called Krissy. Of course she had her day booked with three philanthropic events, so she sent over reinforcements - Amy. Long story short, my fever made it up to 101 and Amy took me to the hospital.
At that point of the day (common for Sundays), the oncology floors were full. They wanted me to be treated asap, so I was sent to the ER. At this point I was feeling worse. The fever was growing (as well as my headache) but everyone was sooo nice it was hard to feel bad. Krissy canceled the rest of her day and joined me and Amy for what we thought would only be a 24 hour visit. The ER bumped me up to the top of the priority list and by the night my fever had broken. It was the best feeling ever! But unfortunately, there was still not a bed available on the oncology floors yet so it was slumber party time again - but this time it was in the ER with Krissy (she and I have become pros over the years at cuddling in my hospital bed together). Oh, and my fever came back around 2am (and did not go away until 1am the following night - awesome).
I made it up to my room on the oncology floor Monday morning, and here I still sit. I have some sort of infection... it has yet to be determined what it is though. It is respiratory, and causing non-stop fevers. They have run every test under the sun and as of now, everything is negative. At this point, they are thinking it's viral. I'm on a heavy, general antibiotic once a day. Other than that there is nothing they can do for me besides keep me comfortable.
In all honestly, Monday SUCKED. It is the most miserable I have ever been since my transplant 7 years ago. The chills, achy body, and headache were the worst. I couldn't eat anything and could barely walk. By the end of the day I was in tears from pain and Krissy rubbed my head until I finally fell asleep. Worst. Day. Ever.
I woke up at 1am that night (Tues morning) in an extreme sweat - my fever was finally breaking. THANK GOODNESS. It felt amazing. My nurse was so happy for me. I was exhausted so she tucked me in and I went back to sleep (I'm not sure if you're familiar with the hospital life, but here, you NEVER sleep. There is always someone in your room taking vitals, checking your IV, asking random questions, giving you meds, etc. The longest I have slept yet is 3 hours straight.)
Today has been MUCH better. A true 180 degrees. I've had 3 fevers since the early hours of the morning, but they are not as intense and not lasting as long (or maybe I'm just starting to get use to them?!). One of my nurses discovered my new bff in life - a small white pill that rids of my awful headaches. THANK. GOODNESS. I have not been in pain since my miracle pill :)
They are going to keep me here for the next 48 hours just to monitor my success and make sure I go home completely healthy. (Maaaaybe if I'm lucky I can talk them into tomorrow?!) My counts are rising and vital signs are getting closer to discharge status. The staff is so amazing here it's really not that bad. Slightly boring, and I TOTALLY miss my kids, but it could be worse. I've been here many times in the past, so I've got the routine down. When ever I want to eat I just call the kitchen and they send it right up. And they have the heated blankets - my favorite (very handy during the chills). Krissy and I went on a walk today which was very nice. Although it was only around the North Campus of Barnes, it was still nice to stretch my legs (especially considering yesterday I could barely walk without her assistance).
Just a couple more days of being spoiled (my nurse today called me her 'low-maintenance' patient - love it!) and I'll be at home and on the couch for the weekend. Looking forward to it!
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