26 September 2023
I finally figured out what I did wrong in trying to transfer files from the old iMac to the new iMac. It was a simple solution where I had clicked the wrong thing. I left the house this morning with the files almost all done. After that, I need to decommission the old iMac. Anyone want it? I’m only going to recycle it if no one wants it.
They took me back around 9:20 this morning and Julianne is my nurse again. I really like her. She said she’s celebrating three years as a nurse this week.
Julianne inserted the IV to the port and then flushed it. She’s administering the saline and magnesium. The blood tests are next.
The CBC with Auto/Differential came back at 9:50 am. The white blood cells are still normal, the red blood cells, hematocrit and hemoglobin were low.
Neutrophils relative were high and lymphocytes relative were low – the usual. The lymphocytes absolute and monocytes absolute were both low – again as usual.
The Comprehensive Metabolic panel came back as usual with low sodium, high glucose (212) and low magnesium. I assume the high glucose is due to having had breakfast before I came. It tends to be high anyway because they keep giving me steroids during the infusion.
The nutritionist, Mia from Sweden, came by and offered me some samples of Enterade, a new product that helps with diarrhea and other digestive issues.
She gave me 8 of these and the brochure on it. That’s really nice of her. It’s a relatively new product with lots of amino acids and helps with a myriad of digestive issues.
Dr. Velez stopped by just a little before 11 am. I had my four questions ready. As to the numbness, a clinal study found that dipping your toes and fingers into ice baths 15 minutes before the Taxol and 15 minutes after the Taxol stopped the numbness. We may even try that today.
As far as the muscle spasms, he’s prescribed a low dose muscle relaxant. I’ll probably pick that up later. The Nurse Navigator, Kathy, is now working on getting the echocardiogram scheduled. She got it scheduled for October 5th.
When I asked about scheduling after the October 3rd date, Dr. Velez sent Emma, the scheduling person, to work on everything after Oct 3rd. I may find the results of that today as well.
It’s now time for the Taxol infusion. I’ve already had my saline and magnesium IV’s. The Taxol should last 1 1/2 hours from now. That means I be sprung from this place sometime after 1 pm.
They decided to do the ice bath. First, they added water and when I tried my hands, I couldn’t keep my hands in very long. Another patient came by and said use only ice and not 15 minutes before the Taxol and 15 minutes after but instead to the ice bath for toes and feet all during the Taxol infusion. I had a bevy of nurses around me bringing me ice baths and towels, and a new warm blanket. They suggested I wear gloves. The problem is all the nurses have small hands and I wear large in glove size.
Even with just ice (and not ice water) it was torture keeping the hands and feet in the water, even for short periods of time. Everyone promises me this works.
Julianne decided to give me an addition 500 ml of saline to help with the dehydration. She’s pumping that in at the rate of 700 ml/hour so I should be done around 1:30 pm
Now it’s back to work on files on the new computer.
