The Type O blood shortage continues and I was concerned that I might not receive the transfusions I needed yesterday but when the head of the lab at the hospital saw my numbers she said I would receive blood from the reserve and they could order the platelets for me. I was very thankful for this and appreciate her understanding. My Hgb dropped to 7.6 and the platelets are going down again and were at 14,000. This was very disappointing because the platelets had been holding and rising a little and that was encouraging but the bubble has burst and they are not responding at this time. It was a long day because I went to dialysis early so I could get on to the hospital for the transfusions so from 4:45 until 4:00 Friday I was sitting in the chair at dialysis then onto the chair at the hospital for transfusions. It was worth it because I feel much better today and all “juiced-up” for awhile.

After dialysis yesterday, I went to Dr. Page’s office to check my numbers and the hemoglobin was 9.3, which is not bad, but my nephrologist wants it to stay above 10.0. My platelets dropped from 19 to 17 and that was a disappointment but they still do not want to give me platelets unless they drop further. My white count is very low so I will self-inject three times with Neupogen. I then went to the hospital for typing and crosschecking but when I arrived home, I had a message from The Center for Blood and Cancer Disorders. I returned the call and was told not to go in for blood on Thursday because there is a national shortage on Type O Positive and Negative blood and I am to wait until next week.

This is why I have always been so thankful to people who will take their time to give blood and platelets. The blood has been there for me and this is my first experience of being told there is no blood for me. I am sure it will be there next week and I understand the need to keep the reserve for emergences.

My RLS (Restless Leg Syndrome) is getting worse and has been since I have been through so much chemotherapy. I asked the nephrologist at the dialysis center if I could take something for it. I had heard an ad on TV for a medication that is supposed to help RLS. He said he was not familiar with that one and would have to check into it but he had prescribed Neurontin. He gave me a prescription for it and the pharmacy sent Gabapentin for the Neurontin. I took one Friday night before going to bed and was not fit for anything the rest of the weekend. I could not get out of bed because I was dizzy and unable to stand up. I do not know if it was a reaction to the medication or maybe I had something that was going around. There are lots of “bugs” going around this area at this time of year. I will try again in a couple of days when I have completely gotten over this episode. I really hope it will work for me because the RLS is very disturbing and will not allow me to rest or sleep.