I arrived on time for my iron infusion. This was my first experience with anything at all like this. I was told I could bring my laptop and work, magazines, my iPod with headphones, food, drinks, a blanket, etc. Am I moving in? Basically yes. This was going to be a full day event.
See at first they have to give me a sample of the iron over 30 minutes to ensure there is no reaction to it. Once that is done then I get Benadryl, some steroids, and something I can't pronounce or spell and that goes in over an hour. Then I get the iron and that takes 4 hours to infuse. Wow. Yeah, I took my laptop and worked the whole time.
Now, where they do this procedure is in the same place all the cancer patients get their chemo. Even though I was having a bad hair day, I felt super guilty because I was one of the few people in there with hair. I also felt like a step-child because my IV bag was black and everyone else had a clear IV bag.
Suffice it to say I was appreciative and grateful I was only there for iron and was not facing chemo. Hopefully I will never have to go back.
Friday, August 30, 2013
So Tired!
So following the gallbladder, 10 more pounds gone, and all that "number 2" business, I'm deep into a new system at work. I have to get it all built, tested and ready by mid-June when we freeze the code before going live on July 6th. I'm working crazy hours and most weekends and just really start dragging. Seems whenever I would sit down for more than a minute without my mind focused on something I would fall asleep. At the one month post-op I mentioned to the doctor how tired I was. He sent me for lab work but I was certain it was just because I was overworked.
Two days later I got a call from the doctor's office on a Thursday advising that they were going to refer me to another doctor for some abnormalities in my blood work. Here's the number, call and make an appointment. So I call and they answered the phone "Center for Cancer Care may I help you?". Uh, what? Cancer Center? No, I'm just tired, I'm not sick. In that brief pause and through a stuttered and stunned speech I asked if this was Dr. Haganstad's office. Well of course it was. Then I guess I need to make an appointment. Of course they were closed Friday and the first available was Wednesday. Now, here's the thing doctors need to understand. You cannot refer a hypochondriac to call a CANCER CENTER and make an appointment and then make them wait 5 days. Do you have any idea how many cancers I imagined I had in those 5 days? Or how many ways I might die? Or when? You must tell the person why they are being referred so they don't freak out. So I had my freak out then decided I just couldn't worry until I had something to worry about.
That Wednesday I was diagnosed with Iron Deficiency Anemia. When looking at my numbers the doctor was surprised I was even able to walk from the car to the office. That I had any color in my skin was apparently impressive. There are several things they measure in red blood cells including size, color, and quantity. Apparently I was well below average, at dangerously low levels, and this was not the first time my iron counts were low. They were also low following my bariatric surgery, but not alarmingly low. Now it was time to take action.
So the following Wednesday I went back to have an iron infusion. I'll cover that in the next post.
Two days later I got a call from the doctor's office on a Thursday advising that they were going to refer me to another doctor for some abnormalities in my blood work. Here's the number, call and make an appointment. So I call and they answered the phone "Center for Cancer Care may I help you?". Uh, what? Cancer Center? No, I'm just tired, I'm not sick. In that brief pause and through a stuttered and stunned speech I asked if this was Dr. Haganstad's office. Well of course it was. Then I guess I need to make an appointment. Of course they were closed Friday and the first available was Wednesday. Now, here's the thing doctors need to understand. You cannot refer a hypochondriac to call a CANCER CENTER and make an appointment and then make them wait 5 days. Do you have any idea how many cancers I imagined I had in those 5 days? Or how many ways I might die? Or when? You must tell the person why they are being referred so they don't freak out. So I had my freak out then decided I just couldn't worry until I had something to worry about.
That Wednesday I was diagnosed with Iron Deficiency Anemia. When looking at my numbers the doctor was surprised I was even able to walk from the car to the office. That I had any color in my skin was apparently impressive. There are several things they measure in red blood cells including size, color, and quantity. Apparently I was well below average, at dangerously low levels, and this was not the first time my iron counts were low. They were also low following my bariatric surgery, but not alarmingly low. Now it was time to take action.
So the following Wednesday I went back to have an iron infusion. I'll cover that in the next post.
10 Pounds in 12 Days
WARNING: This post may contain offensive language.
So, to catch up from April 25th when I had my gallbladder out, the only words that come to mind are shit, shit and more shit. It seems inaccurate to call it poop because it came in droves and shot out like a rocket. Now I realize that sounds crass, but I have to remain true to how it happened. It was just two weeks after my gallbladder came out that I had lost 10 more pounds. Now, ordinarily I would be over the moon with a 10 pound weight loss, but what I had also lost was the ability to eat anything normal or be further than 5 steps from a toilet. So to regain some self-control and dignity I saw the surgeon. Apparently bile induced diarrhea is completely to be expected. Funny, I don't remember reading that in the manual and if it's expected then why didn't I get medicine at the time of surgery? Guess it doesn't happen to everyone, but like everything this year, if it's going to happen to someone, it's going to happen to me.
So I got some medicine...and what was it...yeah some nasty orange powder I had to mix with water and drink in the morning. It took me right back to all those shakes I had to drink and the liquid diet before the surgery and for half a minute I was second guessing my decision to have the surgery. Whenever I start to feel like that, I just step on the scale and start smiling again.
So, to catch up from April 25th when I had my gallbladder out, the only words that come to mind are shit, shit and more shit. It seems inaccurate to call it poop because it came in droves and shot out like a rocket. Now I realize that sounds crass, but I have to remain true to how it happened. It was just two weeks after my gallbladder came out that I had lost 10 more pounds. Now, ordinarily I would be over the moon with a 10 pound weight loss, but what I had also lost was the ability to eat anything normal or be further than 5 steps from a toilet. So to regain some self-control and dignity I saw the surgeon. Apparently bile induced diarrhea is completely to be expected. Funny, I don't remember reading that in the manual and if it's expected then why didn't I get medicine at the time of surgery? Guess it doesn't happen to everyone, but like everything this year, if it's going to happen to someone, it's going to happen to me.
So I got some medicine...and what was it...yeah some nasty orange powder I had to mix with water and drink in the morning. It took me right back to all those shakes I had to drink and the liquid diet before the surgery and for half a minute I was second guessing my decision to have the surgery. Whenever I start to feel like that, I just step on the scale and start smiling again.
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