In the hospital all week... 9/9/07

Hey all:

A quick update on things… Things have been a bit on the tough side this last week. I had some issues with limping on my right side on Wednesday, which when I called my Doctor, she said to get to the hospital to check out my back. That led to an MRI on my favorite machine (I did great this time. I think I am finally just learning to deal with it).

Unfortunately, my back had swelled up again and I need to go back on the Decadron steroid. (Not good news). The other down side is that while they were checking me for that, they tested my blood counts and found that they were so low across the board, that I needed to be hospitalized until they could be brought back up.

SO… I was actually in the hospital all week: Wednesday through today, Sunday afternoon. In addition to sitting around working (fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, the rooms all have Wi-Fi), they gave me shots, IV meds, and platelets and blood units, all trying to raise my counts. It was agonizing waiting for the lab results each day, hoping that they would get to the point that I could go home. Each day they bumped up, but not enough… Clearly, this last round of chemo really kicked my butt…

That and I think I overdid it at work the last two weeks. Especially Tuesday… I almost killed myself going down to one of the high-rise jobsites for a meeting. In full fall harness, I walked long distances, up stairs and ramps in 93 deg. heat. I completely soaked through my dress shirt in sweat. It was seriously stupid of me, but I had felt obligated to go. I won’t be doing anymore jobsite visits for a while, I can tell you that much. Obligation or not.

Anyway, I am home now and looking forward to getting a good night sleep in my own bed. I do have to go back and do blood work on Tuesday to make sure I am still fit to be in the general public.

Please pray that my blood counts stay up. I would also like to encourage you all to please go donate blood and platelets. When I donated, I never really thought much about who used that blood, guessing it was typically Emergency situations. But I clearly needed them to avoid any possible infection my body couldn’t then fight off. Or maybe I can just see it as they got me home to my family quicker? Saving lives in ER’s, or boosting cancer patients immune systems, or just getting people home quicker… All good reasons to donate.

Love, in Christ,
Eric