The entire experience

Well as my colleague asked "you wanted to have the entire experience right?" in response to my news of the latest medical saga. 

I did (in my estimation) very well with the first chemo treatment - no nausea, ate well, no fatigue so….thought I had it all under control. Of course, there is no controlling of the situation I find myself in at the moment, which was proven by the fact that I developed symptoms of a cold on Wednesday and by Thursday had a low grade temperature. Had my blood done for treatment the following day and so called the chemo nurse to see about the three hour drive and she assured me that although my counts were low that I was still within the guidelines to receive treatment unless I developed a fever or became ill. That evening when my temperature was 38c I dutifully presented to the ER for bloodwork, chest X-ray and urine sample. Diagnosed with neutropenia (severely low white blood count) pneumonia and bronchitis I found myself admitted with an IV and IV antibiotics every 6hrs, aerosol masks, daily bloodwork and booster for my white blood cells on reverse precautions (those who came to see me had to wear a mask and clean their hands, staff wore gowns and gloves). I didn't actually feel too badly the first day (looked worse on paper) but by the weekend was feeling really rotten with high fever which refused to budge even with tylenol so fan over ice, cold facecloth, ice packs, pushing fluids and feeling as if someone had poked me in both eyes and wrapped a huge rubber band around my head. By Monday my counts were back to normal and my temperature resolving. Tuesday found me well enough to come home on inhalers and oral antibiotics. Coughing and still getting back on my feet, but generally feeling much better. 

Haven't (of course) been able to enjoy the pool myself except for one family swim last Tuesday before all the shenanigans began. Lots of fun with the floaties and squirty toys followed by a BBQ as the prenatal daughter and five year old grandson were visiting. This weekend is an annual BBQ for my sister's birthday so will look forward to having the gang here and the grandson will be along for that and the following week as I've enrolled him in swimming lessons. 

Found a new cleaner and she didn't complain about the cat hair (mind you, she has two himalayan kitties, two rabbit hounds and two lizards) so was clearly a good choice as an animal lover. She is also an obsessive cleaner who enjoys it - yes, there are people like that and they are the ones to find to clean for you - lives nearby and drives. Was pleased to have this settled and came home to a sparkling house. 

Spent today paying some bills and dealing with bureaucracy. When an agency is called Service Canada one would be allowed to think they might assist you right? Ha ha ha ha. If you press continue on the website query, a message saying the website is temporarily down appears. There is no way from the website to figure out a phone number (except for pensions) and when you dial it, no way to speak to a human. A friend suggested punching 0 (which I did causing it to ring and ring - gave up at 20 rings). So I called my MPs office for assistance and was assured they have a private line to Service Canada and would deal with my problem and call me back. Now, I don't know about you but….this did not reassure me. You have a service which is so dysfunctional as to require intervention and yet don't try to fix it? Hmmmm. Hopefully the politicos can work their magic. 

Well, since I had to cancel a stack of appointments due to my unplanned 'break' I have rescheduled picking up my wig until tomorrow. A coworker and myself have arrangements to go to lunch following and she is driving me so I feel quite princess like. The plans for a late October 40th anniversary nursing class reunion are coming together and really something positive to look forward to. Later…..