(March 2008) Chemotherapy is kicking the hell out of the leukemia cells. The less than great thing is that it's also killing healthy blood cells.
My white blood count is down below normal. That leaves my immune system weak and my doctor keeps telling me to be careful about infections, and to call him right away if I start to feel anything coming on.
I've been taking an antibiotic and an anti-viral since I started chemo and I got a prescription for a "z-pak" antibiotic to put in my shaving kit if we decide to go on a trip.
I quietly move to the other side of the room if someone sneezes. When our granddaughter had a virus I actually asked the doctor if it was okay for me to be around her. (It was).
I am fretting way too much. I don't think about any effects from the leukemia. But every other bump in the road sends me careering toward the curb.
I was out trimming the palm trees and got poked by the barbs of a frond. By that night it was red and puffy. Instead of doing what a normal human being would do and ignore it, I looked at it again in the morning and called my internist. He asked a bunch of questions and finally concluded that I should try to be normal and if it changed, I should go see him.
It did change. It healed.
I took off my t-shirt one day and found some spots of blood on it. A small mole on my chest was bleeding. It was okay the next day but bleeding again the third day. So I made an appointment with my internist. I told him how silly I felt about the whole thing, that I was sure it was nothing, but I wanted to be sure.
He said he'd do the same thing if it were him and looked at the mole. Then he looked at it some more, and got out the bright lights and magnifying lenses before pronouncing that it was a scab, not a mole at all, and if I would leave a band-aid on it for a couple days it should be fine.
So, I'm teetering on the edge of being a hypochondriac. Not that it keeps me from doing anything or going anywhere, but I may get the Howard Hughes Award for hand washing. We eat organic fruits and vegetables. I'm trying to exercise more and do more healthful things.
Who would have thought that in the end, leukemia would make me healthier.
My white blood count is down below normal. That leaves my immune system weak and my doctor keeps telling me to be careful about infections, and to call him right away if I start to feel anything coming on.
I've been taking an antibiotic and an anti-viral since I started chemo and I got a prescription for a "z-pak" antibiotic to put in my shaving kit if we decide to go on a trip.
I quietly move to the other side of the room if someone sneezes. When our granddaughter had a virus I actually asked the doctor if it was okay for me to be around her. (It was).
I am fretting way too much. I don't think about any effects from the leukemia. But every other bump in the road sends me careering toward the curb.
I was out trimming the palm trees and got poked by the barbs of a frond. By that night it was red and puffy. Instead of doing what a normal human being would do and ignore it, I looked at it again in the morning and called my internist. He asked a bunch of questions and finally concluded that I should try to be normal and if it changed, I should go see him.
It did change. It healed.
I took off my t-shirt one day and found some spots of blood on it. A small mole on my chest was bleeding. It was okay the next day but bleeding again the third day. So I made an appointment with my internist. I told him how silly I felt about the whole thing, that I was sure it was nothing, but I wanted to be sure.
He said he'd do the same thing if it were him and looked at the mole. Then he looked at it some more, and got out the bright lights and magnifying lenses before pronouncing that it was a scab, not a mole at all, and if I would leave a band-aid on it for a couple days it should be fine.
So, I'm teetering on the edge of being a hypochondriac. Not that it keeps me from doing anything or going anywhere, but I may get the Howard Hughes Award for hand washing. We eat organic fruits and vegetables. I'm trying to exercise more and do more healthful things.
Who would have thought that in the end, leukemia would make me healthier.
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