When it rains....

Don and I were both looking forward to the "double digit days" post transplant. That usually means that the counts reach bottom and the stem cells start to take hold. The past 24 hrs have certainly been interesting.

Don complained of increasing fatigue yesterday.... worse than he has had to date. His hemoglobin was 9.9 yesterday morning and down to 9.3 today, so they infused him with 2 units of blood this morning. He continues to have problems with dizziness and low blood pressure in spite of the fact that he has been on IV fluids 24/7 for the past five days. Part of the problem is low levels of albumin and protein in his blood, which leads to osmotic changes, etc. The blood should help that, too. His platelet count was borderline critical (32). White count was 0.03 (about where he was at this time with the last transplant). He continues to struggle with nausea and some diarrhea.

For those of you who are not fellow medical professionals, this all adds up to "he's pretty darn sick".

We got home from the hospital around 1:30 this afternoon and Don settled in for a nap. Son Christopher called and while I was talking with him on the phone, I heard Don yelling for help. Seems he was changing clothes and twisted the wrong way and dislocated his hip prosthesis. Needless to say, he was in a great deal of pain, stuck on hands and knees on the floor. He refused to let me call 911, fearing a trip to the wrong ER. Both of us knew he didn't need to be in an ER as neutropenic as he is. In the process of getting onto the bed, Don's hip popped back into socket

I contacted the transplant unit. We managed to get to the hospital in the SUV and went straight to Xray (bypassing ER). Then back to the 7C, where he got a unit of platelets. The hip was back in place without any fractures. Of course the concern now is bleeding from soft tissue damage.

So Don is now getting around on crutches (size Xtra large) with instructions for ice and rest.....and to SIT DOWN when he changes his pants from now on! His pain has pretty much abated with a little vicoprofen.

Personally, I have had enough excitement for one day and am ready to turn in. I thank God that this resolved as it has so far. We are indeed blessed! It's all bueno!