The Reed Report - Phil's Medical Journey

Monday morning the 26th we had to be at the hospital by 7:30 AM to be ready for chemo by 8 AM. That was rough for me, because I have normally been sleeping until after 9 AM. As it turned out, and as is often the case, I did not even get my vitals checked until after 8 AM. It seems that this was most likely because it was my first outpatient chemo treatment, but any other explanation would be just as valid. The first step was checking my vitals and getting some blood work done. All my vitals were good and later my blood work came back normal as well. One concern was my weight - 153 pounds. That is nearly 20 pounds less than I was in July. Quite honestly, I am nothing but skin and bones, which is why I am trying to focus on my eating. It is not easy! (Sorry, but we forgot to take a picture!!) Outpatient chemo is easier than inpatient chemo. Inpatient is 4-5 days which includes 88 hours for just one chemotherapy. Because my cancer does not have the "bad" genes in it, I do not ne...

Once again it was very good to be out of the hospital and back home in my recliner. In my first few days back, because I was feeling better than I had my last two times at home, I took the time to get "settled". Denise had the things that I needed near my recliner, but I organized them to make it more comfortable for me. Thankfully, I felt fine and stayed healthy during my time home. I slept well, actually sleeping nearly 12 hours every day. I had a low-grade temperature a couple of different times, but it stayed below 100 and dropped back to normal quickly. The remainder of my swelling disappeared - and I turned into a skinny old man. When I looked in the mirror, I saw my Father. The bigger challenge for me during this time was unexpected - it was dealing with the mundane life. I had been in the hospital three different times. Now I was simply at home, trying to get stronger. And I was there longer than I had been in any one place for more than a couple of months. It took me...

Monday late afternoon I was moved to the COVID floor of the hospital. Not exactly where I expected to be (OK, honestly, the last place I expected to be), coming back to the hospital this time around, but here I am!! And I do not have any idea how long I will be here. One doctor talked about a week, plus or minus. At least I have a private room here, though the view (another building) left a lot to be desired. Originally, we were told that Denise was unable to visit me in the COVID unit. Later we learned that it was possible for her to visit me for one hour a day, but because she and her Dad had some COVID symptoms, we opted for her to stay home. I really felt lousy, especially the first day. I woke up Monday night just after 1 PM completely drenched. My fever broke, so I called the Nursing Assistant and asked for clean bedding. While I was at it, I gave myself a sponge bath. And that was the last of my fever. Thankfully. Over the next few days I continued to improve and started feeling...

I went to the ER the other day, just because I had nothing better to do....said no one ever! Denise and I drove to the ER, fully expecting that I would be admitted to the hospital again. They would not have recommended that we go in if that were not the most likely scenario. We understood that even before we called that morning. When we arrived to the ER, they were expecting us, and immediately took us back to an ER room. There they did the usual tests - EKG, chest x-ray, blood work, and a COVID-19 test. They were concerned about my condition because I am 7 days post-chemo - which is when my immune system is at its lowest point, nearly non-existent, meaning that my white blood cell count, including my neutrophils, were nearly 0. They diagnosed me with neutropenic fever, which means I had a temperature of 100.4 or above with low neutrophils. This is actually not uncommon for those undergoing chemotherapy. They confirmed that I would be admitted and said that I just needed to wait for a ...

Since I really wasn't home very long between hospital stays (not even 26 hours), I really never got to feel "settled". So now I should be able to do so, right? When we arrived home, we discovered that the TV we ordered had arrived. Since Donna's husband had run new wires to move DirecTV from another room to the family room, they came in and helped Denise set up the TV (it was so hard for me to not be able to do that myself), so they could verify that everything was set up right with the satellite. We had a little trouble figuring out the TV setup, but the folks at DirecTV were helpful and soon we verified that everything was working well. When I came home it was four days after chemo, and it continued to do its job to kill my immune system as well as to work to reduce the swelling in my lymph nodes and body, though that was not obvious yet. I had regular issues with feeling nauseous, but the medicines that they gave me helped to take care of that. In addition, I was q...

They actually moved me to a private room (this was a bonus!) on the Hematology unit mid-morning. But it was not until mid-afternoon that my doctor finally came to see me and explained why they kept me for observation longer. And then I understood perfectly. Because I had just finished chemo on Monday, all my "good" counts were falling and my immune system was becoming more and more compromised. This put me more at risk for other (possibly dangerous) pulmonary issues (hence the private room) and, rather than risk sending me home, they figured that it was wiser to keep me in observation for a while. I made sure that the doctor knew that I was not pleased that it took so long to receive an explanation, but also that I totally understood and was on board. Denise was able to visit me Wednesday afternoon from 1 to 5, whereas normally this is not the case when someone is in such a private room for possible pulmonary issues. I was thankful that my nurse had seen fit to get approval f...