well, on tuesday, i went to quest to get a buttload of bloodwork done. i hadn't gotten any done since september so i didn't really have a clue how it would go. well, wednesday, i get a call from my doctor saying to go to the ER right away for 2 blood transfusions- my hemoglobin was 6.9. i get to the ER, and of course, they can't view all the bloodwork i had yesterday (14 vials) so they just HAD to repeat it. well, obviously that was hard and messy for everyone involved. i ended up giving blood 3 MORE times while i was in there just "to get some numbers- they're good to know." this didn't really make any sense to me since i NEEDED blood and didn't have a lot to give away.
i ended up being admitted because each infusion was 4 hours and they wanted me to be "comfortable." i say "comfortable" in quotes because my room was africa hot and i was SHARING a bathroom the size of a porta potty. my roommate was an older black woman and was definitely as miserable as i was. she had a knife accident and was in a lot of pain. my favorite part of the entire experience was her breakfast order. i kid you not when she said "i'll have an egg, cheese, sausage, bacon bagel sandwich, cottage cheese with butter and jelly, cream of wheat with syrup, coffee cake with a banana, 2 pepsis, black coffee with 3 creamers and 2 splenda." i was in a lot of pain at the time so this really made my morning.
and onto the sauna. when the nurse came in to give me my first bag of blood, i had been commenting for hours beforehand how hot it was and all of us in the room were dying (mama was with me). the nurse had adjusted the heat a few times but we were still melting. well, of course, when she takes my temp, it's 101 F. i told her it's because of the tropics atmosphere so i had to wait to get my blood until it went down. i ended up not being able to wear clothes- the lovely hospital gown- because it was soaked. i just couldn't do it. my mom laid the gown on top of me just because she didn't want my goods being displayed. well, of course, i ended up having to run to the bathroom when my gown was kind of on my body and kind of not. my hematologist came in and was very offended/alarmed. he was an indian man and was extremely uncomfortable seeing me. he told me to stand still while he tied all the strings on the back of my gown. it was kind of awkward but i would've been naked if it had been up to me.
anyway, i'm home now after getting an okay that my hemoglobin levels are up. only problem is that i'm allergic to the iron infusions so we are thinking of other ways to supplement with it.
hope you enjoyed my hospital stay just as much as i did pahahaha