Day 192: But I was doing so well.....

Alright well I'm back in the hospital. I got the "your bed is ready" call at 8:30am yesterday and of course...half asleep I said okay, see you soon, and went back to sleep. lol. I then met up with a fellow teacher friend DeAnn at Northwest Classen (where the blood drive was being held) and my intention was to pop in a little during a class that she had some of my old students but....i realized I needed gas....got to the gas station.....then realized that I didn't have my wallet because I switched purses that morning! So needless to say I was late and got there during lunch time. oh well, I then met up with one of my students who showed me to where I was going....well kinda we were just wandering around looking for a room number and talking. We talked about him being freshman class president and all his current projects. it made me happy to know that he loved what he was doing and that he was actually excited and enthusiastic about it! :) We finally ran into who we were looking for and she then showed me through the school and we went into the gym where they were holding the blood drive and it was so cool seeing the students work the table up front and giving directions and even seeing how many students and staff were giving their blood unselfishly (is that a word??).

After that, I went to McDonalds to eat and got me a 20 piece chicken nugget and a large sweet tea for my lunch/dinner....and then zoomed to the hospital to check in. The check in process was pretty smooth. I had three bags vs. one large bag and one small bag this time....plus a pillow, a blanket, and a laptop....so I was sort of struggling to make it to the different floors. but I still got here. Once I got settled in (BTW always feels like my first day of freshman year in college moving into the dorms....weird?) I waited around for my nurse who came to do lab draws about an hour later. then a student doc came to talk to me and he was nice but seemed nervous so i messed with him a little bit with some of my answers and he finally loosened up. Then a resident doctor came in to talk and do a quick exam and ask a few of her questions. the whole thing took another hour. Then once I started to actually settle in, I watched my Jersey Shore I missed from LAST WEEK....and once again kept getting interrupted. Transportation was at my door and they were taking me down to radiology for chest xrays.....one of many procedures ordered by my Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) doctor....the beginning of the "testing" series to see if my body is able to handle a transplant. Even though I know it can. :)

So then when I got back I continued my Jersey Shore stuff and watched a little more mindless MTV shows as they started my first dose of chemo....then 15 minutes later (8:49 pm) it hit......I got the chills.....I got SO COLD that I couldn't stop shivering. I was going to call my chemo nurse but my eyesight is so bad that I couldn't read the board to see her number and I was too cold to move so I figured she'd be in to check on me soon so I toughed it out....it only lasted 10 minutes...but when you're that cold 10 minutes is like 10 hours. I got the strength to move my laptop from my table stand to my bed so i can create a mini hot fan to blow into my covers....you know that annoying fan that gets too hot when you hold your laptop in lap....yup that's what I use to create heat in a discrete way around here...my nurses just think i'm watching my laptop....nope, i'm creating loop holes when they just give me a sheet to be under....muahahahaha.....hopefully none of my nurses just read that. lol. and if you are a nurse.....don't take away a laptop from a patient....at that point with a sheet (if your lucky) and the feeling that your in alaska hanging out in a glacier for no reason....is probably one of the worst feelings in the WORLD. ugh. Anyways, after that.....the chills and shakes went away then what's worse than alaska in a glacier?? that's right the heat in the middle of the summer in Yuma Arizona.....i can only compare this because I've been there at that time....awful. I got sooooo hot that I was chugging ice cold water and drank all of the pitcher they gave me. I had to get up and walk a little to cool my bed down but my head was throbbing and I felt a little light headed (keep in mind I only ate ONCE yesterday). So I went to the restroom, washed my face and brushed my teeth, and laid back down....then in came my happy nurse. I told her what i had just experienced and she took my vitals and my temp was 104!!! ahhhhhhhhh......

I told her how hot I was and she took my temp a few more times and still nothing. so she called the doctors on call and they ordered a chest x-ray and started me antibiotics. meanwhile the chemo was still going so I guess it wasn't that bad. I told her later on I had a headache and she gave me two Tylenol's and I was ready to go to sleep. I turned on my laptop and was listening to music and she came back in around 11 and said...oh Kim  you were my favorite patient but you're making me work tonight girl......lol. She had to draw MORE blood from me for blood cultures.....which happens every time I get a fever. She draws a mini ketchup size bottle of blood from my picc line and then another mini ketchup bottle straight from my vein.... :( so I was stuck with a needle but thankfully she is good at it so it was only a pinch.

Then all night was just awful because I was so uncomfortably hot. I kept tossing and turning but when you have two tubes running through your left arm of highly toxic stuff....it's hard to move as you please. and to make it worse i HATE hospital beds. they move every minute and its loud and it makes you sink in your bed and when you readjust you pretty much sink back to where you were unless you can wait for it to move. So I did what I always do when I get this hot and all the nurses laugh at me for it. I laid the other way in my bed. that's not weird right? I put my head where my feet was and my feet where my head was. For some reason everytime I do this...nurses come in....laugh....and say, Kim, what are you doing?? Then I have to explain to them the stupid-ness of the bed and that it'll cool me off....and sure enough....it did and i was out. i slept without a blanket for the majority of the night and as soon as i cooled off around 5am when the nurse came in for my morning labs I tuned back around and put ONE blanket back on me and fell asleep until my first doctor came in....and the only one i saw today....usually I see like 4 before the whole team makes their round....but i'm not complaining at all.

Anyways, it was a hard night but I got through it and feel a lot better today. I got my breakfast in me and now I'm going to catch back up on my jersey shore that I missed last night because I was too busy shaking and shivering.

today is also lumbar puncture/intrathecal chemo day.......noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!! That means (for those who aren't dedicated Kim Begay Blog followers) I will have a small dose of chemo inserted into my spinal fluid that will travel up into my brain area and hang out up there (much like how chemo hangs out in my body for a bit....) to ensure that they are in fact inserting into my spinal chord....some spinal fluid will be drawn out and it's sometimes tested to make sure it's cancer free. The last time...and pretty much every time I got it done it was so I'm not too worried about it. I just hate theses because this is the ONLY time I get nauseous sick and throw up. I know it's coming and there is always the fear of them missing and messing up my nervous system again.....remember the horrible neck cramps?? ugh.

Anyways, I'm about to eat some hash browns with some buffalo wild wing sauce....lol (thanks heather for the suggestion!) and a toasted bagel....along with a fresh fruit plate.....yum! I'll try to update later on how things go. pray for me and think happy thoughts for me this afternoon.....

much love,
kim

Momma LJ would be sooooo proud of her mini for decorating!! :) I know I was.

awwww!!! My students (who i have yet to teach) made me this beautiful sign for my birthday. :) 

Why yes everyone should know that it's all about me on my birthday.....

MORE BALLOONS!!!! and making a very important birthday wish. :)

another of the many pictures my friend a-rod took of me with my new favorite wig as part of another one of his impromptu photo shoots he does..... He's the one who took my pictures in the hospital when I was angry. (see profile pic on top right)