I have developed a bladder infection. It has been coming on for a while but I hated to give into it until I had no choice because of the bleeding. They now have me on Levaquin and I am sure that will take care of it. They told me if the bleeding persisted, I was to come back in for more testing. They think it is because of my low platelet count and with the infection, it is compounding the problem. My platelets were 9 but my hemoglobin was 10.6 so I was pleased with that. I will get platelets in the morning and hope that will help the situation. Dr. Page has ordered 6 units of platelets and I have never taken less than 10 so the hospital called him when I was there for cross typing. He said he wanted the 6 and it seems he is going to change up the amounts I receive to try and make my body accept it all better. Kind of like trying to fool my system with different amounts so it will not be as likely to reject the transfusions and create antibodies against them.

It seems like my body tries to think up things for me to deal with but I have great doctors who continue to help me.

Not much is happening that is different. I have been taking the Exjade (iron binder) for about 2 ½ weeks and the latest report is that the iron saturation is down from 77 in March to 49, the last time it was taken. This is encouraging but I will not know the real numbers until my ferritin is monitored and they only do that quarterly. I will be anxious to see what it is at that time.

The dialysis center is kept quite cool and we all bundle up in blankets to stay warm. It is not cold to the workers but when you are sitting there, it seems too cool. Another thing that makes the patients cooler is the fact that our blood is cooled down when it goes through the machine and before it is returned to our systems. The blood is kept around 36.5 to 37.0 but can go as low as 35. If it goes over 37, the cells are too warm and begin to breakdown and will let potassium leak into the blood system. It is quite a science and I continue to question and learn about the process.

A good thing took place this last week; I did not have to go in for transfusions. This is two weeks in a row because the week before, I just did not go in for testing. Sometimes it helps to be a little aggressive and just do what you really want to do. This is not a good idea to do often but sometimes it feels pretty good. I did go in Wednesday and my hemoglobin was 10.5 and the platelets were 13. These numbers are very low for a normal person but for me…they seem to be pretty normal. They said I did not have to have transfusions and will test again on next Wednesday. The Exjade, the iron binder, continues to make me a little sick at my stomach but maybe it will just take awhile for my system to adjust to it.

I received the Exjade, the iron binder, yesterday by special delivery. They look like large Tums and must be dissolved in orange juice, apple juice or water. It takes a long time to dissolve but has very little taste. It actually makes the juice taste a little creamy. I take two tablets one time a day so it is quite easy to deal with. I am anxious to see my ferritin numbers come down, 2565 is extremely high for iron. The dosage made me a little sick at my stomach so I think I will take them just before bed and I think this will take care of that problem.

Tuesday, April 4, 2006
6:30 am cdt