Hanging

Lost momentum on the blog there for a few days, mainly because there's not much to report. Over the weekend I had more energy from the transfusion. I put most of it into playing with Luka and trying to catch up on the hopeless household backlog of minor repairs, finances, and cleanup. My hip muscle spasm continued, limiting my movement a lot. But I've minimized it with ice, rest, and ibuprofen. Today it finally feels like it's nearly over. I'm increasingly convinced it's not related to whatever's going on in my femur heads.

Since Sunday night the transfusion's been slowly wearing off. The telltale fatigue and eternal headache are settling in like a throbbing fog as my hemoglobin level sinks. Went for another blood test yesterday morning, but the nurse never called me with the results. I didn't have the energy to pursue it (partly because those readings won't mean much, since they're skewed by the transfusion). Another blood test coming Thursday.

I thought I had an appointment with my dentist on Saturday afternoon, but when I got to her office at 2:30 no one was there. She has a direct number for emergencies, and though my teeth were feeling better I decided to call her. I've been seeing her for 5 years or so and we've got a really nice relationship, one of those ones where you feel like you can ask for a favor when you need it.

On the phone she liked my theory that Nystatin — the mouth rinse I've been using for thrush, a horribly sweet goo that requires swishing 4 times a day — might be eating away the enamel and causing the tooth sensitivity. She would've made a special trip to see me anytime, but I decided it could wait until today. She didn't see anything wrong, so we talked about ways to deal with the sensitivity, mainly by using fluoride right after the Nystatin, or maybe trying to get a pharmacist to reformulate the Nystatin in some non-sugary base. For the time being, I've stopped the Nystatin and my teeth are more or less back to normal: lousy but liveable.

Tonight (which is Tuesday, despite the date on this post) I'm basically back to where I was last week at this time, the night before the first transfusion. By now my bone marrow should be putting out red cells and hemoglobin, so I should be on the upswing. But it takes 8 weeks to get to normal, and this is only the end of week 2. The nurse warned me I might need more transfusions before my own cells really come up.

We'll see what tomorrow brings. Right now I can barely move. Giant vise grips are closing on my temples. My eyes hurt. Hope I can sleep.