11/14/07 Getting out of the Hospital

A Birthday to Remember!


Well, as Gene Wilder said in Young Frankenstein "He's ALIIIIIVE!"

After the adventure yesterday I had no idea of what to expect. Once again I checked in around 3 or so, and then they had to find the blood. As Donna mentioned in her email, they had taken 14 vials of blood at UCSD, and then when I got the bed they took 4 more, then 2 more today, so I had 20 vials of blood drawn. No wonder I needed a transfusion!

They once again told me what a difficult match I was, and it took them until 11:30 pm to find the blood. And guess where they found it. the Red Cross Blood Bank in Los Angeles. Go figure. So, I got 4 units at about 2.5 hours / unit, so I got done around 9am, Of course they monitor you all night long, so I probably got 3 hours sleep. Then they had to draw blood to test my counts an hour after the last transfusion, then waited 2 hours for the results, then 2 hours to be discharged. We got home around 3:30pm.

The tests showed a steady decrease in WBC now at 209,000, but right now that is not the real problem. Hemoglobin went from 4.6 to 8.4, but normal is 12, so it is still below normal, but at least functioning. They decided not to keep me in the hospital, but to start me on a high dosage of steroids (look out Barry Bonds***). This will have two affects. One, keep lowering the WBC (then the problem is that it is too low, and at risk now for infections), and Two, allowing the Red Count to rise. He wants me to have blood tests every two days to make sure I am doing OK. There is no guarantee that the transfusions will keep me at this level. He thinks my red cells are being destroyed or rejected, but doesn't know which. But he thinks the steroids will keep the antibodies in check, so I will start producing my own red cells.

I am also looking for a new Hematologist up here that Dr. Kipps, from down there can coordinate with. I just don't feel my current guy is right for me. Dr Kipps even came over to the hospital today at about 10am (not normal Dr round times) to just check on me. He said he was really concerned about me, and wanted to make sure I was doing OK, and understood the next steps. What a great guy.

Well, let's just hope the Red counts continue to rise.

All for now

Terry