This morning was dialysis and the doctor and dietitian were there and met with me while I was on the machine. The doctor told me while I am on the machine I am getting 60,000 units/mi of Epogen weekly. This is the same as Procrit so I do not have to self inject that while I am on dialysis and this is ok with me.

I do not receive the prescribed units of anything before I am given something to help my system accept the “intruders” that it is about to receive. Before the Pentamidine, I received Zofran to help avoid nausea and before the platelets and blood, I received Tylenol and Benadryl to relax me and assist the acceptance.

I am having bathroom problems and asked the doctor what he would recommend to help with this situation. I do not take anything unless I talk to my doctors first. He recommended Dulcolax and also a stool softener.

The dietitian told me my protein level is low and I need to add more protein to my diet. I do not eat a great deal but do eat each meal. I used to be a vegetarian but since last fall when I became so ill and went to the emergency room with dehydration, I have been eating meats. Everything tasted sweet or it had a metallic taste and protein was about the only thing I could eat. I am eating about all the meat I can deal with so I will add more dairy products. Eggs, milk and cheese are good sources but being on a low sodium diet it is hard to find a cheese that I can eat. She recommended a brand called Alpine Lace and said it has some low sodium cheeses in its line. I have seen it before and will try to find it again.

Arthur comes back tomorrow and Mark will fly out on Sunday. Mark is going to an Astros ballgame tomorrow night (Saturday) and believe me he needs a fun night out after being the caregiver this week. Mark has been a great caregiver this week but I know he is ready to get back to his family and they are ready for him to get home. I had appointments at M. D. Anderson yesterday and had blood work done. The numbers were very disappointing: platelets 13, hemoglobin 8.3 both going back down. They gave me a unit of both blood and platelets and I am to go back Sunday morning for blood testing and will wait for the results. If the platelets are not above 20, they will consider giving me another unit. Since my immune system is not good, they gave me an infusion of Pentamidine to help keep me from getting PCP (pneumonia). The infusion took two hours in the Aphersis Clinic at 9:00 a.m. After seeing Dr. Anderlini, Jill and Jill in his office, we found the bad news about the blood work results. Our appointment for receiving the platelets and blood was at 4:30 so we did not arrive back at the apartment until 9:30 last night. It was a late night because we knew we would be up at 4:50 to get ready for the 6:30 appointment at dialysis this morning.