In preparation for our Monday meeting with the Radiologist and his nurse, we developed an additional set of questions for the nurse to ask me each week. She agreed to include them in the chart and update them each week…We’ve come to the conclusion that the medical staff is really getting to think that we’re not the average patient team…but that’s OK with us!
We received the first week’s blood test results on Tuesday. They showed my red blood cell/hemoglogin/hematocrit counts lower than the normal range, which we automatically attributed to the chemotherapy. The red blood cells being low would readily explain the tiredness I’m experiencing, because the red blood cells transport oxygen throughout the body. Susanne contacted our assigned hospital nutritionist Kim Ortega and was advised that the best thing to do for this situation was to increase my intake of iron and vitamin C, which we are now doing. The next day, however, we obtained the blood test results from before the chemotherapy began and back into August, and in fact, my numbers this week have improved over last week, not declined! It’s frustrating to discover that apparently my red blood cell counts have been low for quite awhile and no one told us. We will now reconstruct and graph my blood test results from the last year and watch them going forward weekly to observe trends. This was a good example of being careful about drawing conclusions without all the FACTS! In reflecting on all the foods that Arpi fixed over the weekend, they were high in both iron and vitamin C, so that may be where the improvement came from. But, we’ll keep fact-finding and observing what occurs…
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The rest of the story…
I’m a very capable person, and I’m very used to working independently. What I’m noticing on this journey though is the relief and love I feel when others are along with me as companions. It was just so lovely to have Dave and Arpi here for the weekend. It felt so good to go shopping with Arpi and cooking along with each other. She continued on her own when I couldn’t be there to help, too. My brother is always very supportive during challenges and crises. I appreciate having a big brother at moments like this. He even took over my lawn watering duties, and according to his wife, he doesn’t do yardwork (he’s a lawyer)!
As Craig and others have taken over much of the medical support work right now, I’m glad to have projects to still tackle like getting on the steep learning curve to learn about blood components and tests. Having a major illness in the family is sure increasing our medical knowledge base! I suspect that my blood cells are dancing with joy these days too…I keep eating all this good food right along with Craig. Between increasing our exercise, prayer, and meditation, as well as eating totally healthy food, we are probably in better shape than we’ve ever been (except for that little bothersome brain cancer item, anyway…).
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