Fevers & Chills

Because he's the hero Nina deserves,
but not the one she needs right now.

The past few days have been filled with very high fevers and trembling chills. I found out yesterday I caught the rhinovirus, the common cold. Its so mild that I don't even notice it. I also started to develop a mild rash over my body. The fevers could be a result of the cold, or just SCT of my bone marrow trying to finally produce white,red, platelet, blood cells of its own. Today I learned my neutrophils were .2 so that is some encouraging news,

Now I'm not gonna go and claim Batman cured me of my fevers. But I just finished watching The Dark Knight Rises (yet again)... and when the nurse took my temperature during the movie everything was back to normal. I feel better too.

Was Too Sick To Post This Past Week

Here is a quick rundown of what I dealt with this past week.
A mix of strong nausea, extreme fatigue, shortness of breath, weakness, & just staying in bed.

Monday: Almost passed out after my shower. Nurses helped me. Head didn't feel right all day.
Tuesday: Head still throbbed. Threw up spit right before my stem cell transplant. SCT, uneventful- some cramps. Slept the day away mostly. Fever.
Wednesday: I got my first blood transfusion today. Santa came by with Carolers. Nausea continues...
Thursday: Husband donated platelets with my brother who donated blood. Throat starts acting up at night (mucosis begins). Pain in my esophagus. All I do is drink my food, can't eat anymore.
Friday: A really boring day, and of course felt terrible. Another fever. Got routine chest x-ray, everything ok.

I love my aunts <3

Saturday: Another boring day, still feeling terrible.
Sunday: A very good morning. My birthday, 2 aunts from Puerto Rico came for the day, my dad, my bro, his g/f, my other aunt, and my husband were here. I received my husbands platelets, throat starts to feel a bit better.
Monday: Received my brothers blood. Feverish all day since last night. Took a long nap, but feeling noticeably better in the evening. Another chest x-ray.

Water Retention

Sunrise this morning.

I feel like crud. I think the fatigue is starting to sneak its way in & that doesn't help me this morning. My body feels sore and swollen all over. I know its because of all the saline/liquids they've been putting in me. I weighed in at 126lbs this morning, like I said its mostly water. I'll be down to 120 maybe on Monday. I'm sluggish, my head doesn't feel like its all here today. I really just want to sleep the day away. So I guess it begins... I will try to do some walking, but I am definitely staying away from resistance exercises today. My skin is too tender to the touch because of all the water in my body. I'm being discharged in a few minutes. I can't wait to lay in my familiar bed and REALLY relax.

Update: So when I got home I took a few naps with my dog Korra. She was a good dog today, giving me love and licking me a bit too much lol. Right now I am helping my husband put away the laundry & I managed to walk... about a mile. Maybe it was a little less,  but I think I deserve a cheat day :P

Light the Night

So its Wednesday and we walked the Light the Night for the Lymphoma & Leukemia Society that my husbands best friend organized. I had a great time, everyone held lit up balloons & some people even released their golden "In Memory" balloons into the sky, it looked so pretty, magical even. It was beautiful. I honestly had an amazing time, it was a night to remember & meant a lot to me now going through this ordeal. I want to say that today was 'overall' great, it just got crummy at night.

Earlier in the day, I ran my usual errands with my husband & he drove me to the gym because I have been having an issue with my ankles (due to the tapering down of my medicine). Usually I walk to the gym, but I didn't want to risk my ankles any further in preparation for the festivities at night. I had a great workout, my ankle even felt better. I then walked home & my ankle was okay. We went to Light the Night & the ankle did not bother me much until later in the night when it was close to going home. By the time I arrived home I was limping pretty bad but could walk, only slowly. I relaxed in bed, both legs elevated (because my right leg had started to feel bad too). As I prepared to go to bed I decided to go to the bathroom before bed because I knew it would be hard to walk in the middle of the night. OH my Lordy! My ankles were terrible, much worse than I thought, I could not even stand on them. I tried for a few minutes to get the right footing but it hurt so much. I had to get help from my husband who literally lifted me to the toilet & as he did I started to cry because it scared me to think that this could be my future.

I never want to get to that point. I loathe R.A., what it does to my body AND mind. The word inFLAMED best describes the horrible swelling that ruins my joints. Ugh how I hate it. That bathroom experience was one of the worst I've ever had. My ankles have only ever been that bad maybe 3-4x in my past. I guess tonight was one of those unfortunate nights My plans to go to the museum with my aunt & uncle tomorrow are not going to happen. No gym either. At least I can re-watch episodes of The Office all day. Watching super hero movies & comedies tends to cheer me up in moments like these.