Dialysis yesterday was a downer. I made it through just fine until the last few minutes. I started having leg cramps and then became very ill. The nausea was terrible, I started throwing up, and my blood pressure was on a roller coaster ride. I was taken of the machine and kept a wet towel on my face and neck. I could not sit up and for sure I could not stand. They gave me saline and when this did not help, they gave me a shot of a medicine that was to help with the nausea. These are given to me through the line that they use for the dialysis. The nausea did not respond and I continued to feel very weak and extremely ill. I did not know it but I passed out for a few seconds and was told this when they said the doctor wanted me to go to the hospital by way of ambulance. I told them I felt I could go home but they said “NOT” because I had fainted and was still having multiple problems.

They called 911 and soon the ambulance arrived. My dialysis center is located only a few blocks from the hospital but I must admit it seemed like forever. I became extremely ill and threw up again. We arrived at the hospital and after checking in and talking to the doctor who was at the emergency room, I had an X-ray, EKG and other tests. Everything was really o.k. and the conclusion was that too much fluid was taken off in too short of time. They are talking about having me on the machines for a longer period of time. Instead of the three hours, maybe it will be increased to 3 ½ or 4 hours. This will put much less stress on my heart and system. I will find out tomorrow at dialysis. I rested the rest of yesterday and feel better today.

Some good news that I received while at the hospital was that my numbers are not bad. My hemoglobin was 9.8 and my platelets are 27,000. This is pretty exciting since I have not had a transfusion in a week. I hope this trend continues. It will be year February 22 since I received my stem cells back and maybe they are gearing up to give me a birthday surprise. I now have two birthdays: one my actual birthday and the day I received my stem cells back. M. D. Anderson considers these both “official” birthdays.