Neutropenia

This morning when I woke up my nurse told me I’d reached “neutropenia.”  Kinda sounds like a magical land or a ride at Disneyland or something J lol.  In reality, it means that the chemotherapy is working just as we’d hoped and it has officially killed off my white blood cells to the point that I’m at a much higher risk for infection.   Essentially I have no immune system and any little thing could make me sick.  As a result, they had to take the flowers out of my room (only bummer about being neutropenic is that flowers are not allowed), but if being neutropenic means that we are making progress then they can have my flowers J  All my flowers are out at the nurses station now and even more people can enjoy them!

Now that I’m neutropenic I have to wear a mask when I leave my room, visitors must wear a mask if they have any sign of illness, and I just have to be super careful with hand washing/etc.  My nurse brought me in my very own blood pressure cuff this morning when she came in to take my vitals (no more sharing with other patients now that I’m neutropenic) and we were joking around that next time she comes in to take my vitals she’s gonna find it all “bedazzled” J 

In addition to waking up in the “land of neutropenia”, I’m also getting my first blood transfusion today.  The doctor came in and went over all of the consents and talked to me about all the risks. Maybe I should be taking this more seriously, but my thought was “dude, the blood is WAY more natural than all the other stuff (chemo)  we’ve put in my body over the past 4 days”…no big deal!  I must admit that it is a bit weird to think that I’m the recipient of blood products instead of being the donor.  I’ve been a blood donor since college and I guess I always thought it was really no big deal to donate.  It never hurt me and was “easy”.  Today the tables have turned and I am SO grateful for the donors who took the time out of their day to donate the 2 units of blood that I’ll be receiving.  The simple act of blood donation has taken on a whole new meaning for me.  It is truly the gift of life. 

I have had several friends and family ask if they can give blood for me or register to be a bone marrow donor.  While I probably won’t be the direct recipient of your donation, your donation or registration WILL help others (either by replenishing the blood bank supply or matching another person).    Being on the “other side” of the donation now, I can tell you that your donation ABSOLUTLEY makes a difference!    If you are interested in donating blood you can contact your local blood bank.   I’ve also included this link http://www.redcrossblood.org/learn-about-blood/blood-facts-and-statistics  for anyone who is interested.   (Fun facts and stats about blood donation & use J). 

*Tomorrow’s blog topic will be bone marrow donation/registration.  I’ve been learning ALL sorts of really cool information about bone marrow typing/matching and I can’t wait to share it with you all J

Love, Chellie