Wrapping Up Day 15

After two days without Neupogen the white counts have slipped, as expected. They were down to 8.3 yesterday and 4.3 today. The normal range is 4.0 to 11.0. The neutrophils were down to 7.06 yesterday and 3.35 today. Neutrophils are the part of the white count that directly fight infections. For the neutrophils, anything above 2.0 is good and anything above 0.5 you can get by with. They will be watching for the point where the white count levels out before heading back up. Regardless if it has stopped falling or not, it should not keep me from being discharged on Tuesday. If the counts fall below acceptable levels they will start the Neupogen shots back up for a day or two.

I was in Benadryl la-la land again much of the day. Once a week they give me IVIG, IV immunoglobulin, to boost the immune system. Today was the day. They pre medicated me with hydrocortison and Benadryl. Benadryl usually makes me loopy for 4 to 6 hours. It pretty much lasted the whole 6 hours today. I walked a mile early this morning and 2 miles this evening before the ball games. My brother came by to visit about mid afternoon. Nothing medically special is scheduled for tomorrow.

They changed out the triple lumen line in my chest to a double line yesterday in preparation for being discharged from the hospital on Tuesday. Apparently they won't need but two lines after I get out, plus I won't have to maintain the extra line. The triple line is actually just one line with three continuous holes or tubes in it. The double line is one line with two continuous holes in it. To change the line out, they run a wire down one of the tubes into the vein to hold the place in the chest cavity and the vein. They then pull the triple line out over the wire, leaving the wire in place. They then thread a double line over the wire into the vein just above the heart. Then they pull the wire out. The line is held in place by a little plastic piece with two "wings" on it. The wings of the plastic piece are sutured to my chest. They have to change the plastic piece when they change the line out as well. They gave me a local anesthetic to make this process a little easier. I had the whole thing put in with just a local anathestic a few weeks ago. About half the patients choose to be knocked out and half do it with a local.

Well, that's about it for today. We are just waiting out the next two days to let the new system have a little more time while I'm in a clean environment.

Oh, speaking of the new system, I will have a new blood type when all this is over. I wondered about that since the whole system is being replaced. But it's true, I will end up with the donor's blood type. Right now I have two blood types since some remnants of the old system are still in place. As the new system finishes off the old system, I will have just one blood type. Also, all the childhood vaccinations will have to be repeated in about 6 months since all the old system will be destroyed. It's all logical, but a little curious still.