I went to hematology Friday for my routine lab work. I was looking forward to this because I was curious as to what my hemoglobin would be now that I was no longer “diluted” with all the saline I was given in the hospital. As crappy as I feel, I knew it had to be low. Yep. It was 8.5.
This is such a dramatic turn around from before. I mean, I was going six weeks between shots and even then, my hemoglobin wasn’t that low… 9.8, 9.5. But now, 8.5? And back to needing shots every two weeks again? Ugh.
I asked the nurse if she could ask the pharmacist to up my dose at least a little. I had been getting 50 mg per shot, and this time they upped it to 65 mg. I know at one point in time I was up to 75 mg but obviously they lowered it somewhere along the line. I know there are serious side effects with Aranesp, so I’m sure they want to keep people on the lowest effective dose possible.
I’m not sure why but I don’t have any further appointments scheduled with hematology. I could have sworn the medical assistant told me they scheduled them out for a year but clearly they didn’t. She’s supposed to call me soon to get more appointments scheduled.
I’ve thought about changing hematology clinics because I really don’t like the doctor there but the nurses and the staff are so nice, and they know me know. I only have to see Dr. Jerk once a year so I think I’ll just put up with him so I can work with this same staff.
It takes a few days for the EPO shot to kick in but I hope it’s soon. I know all I’ve done lately is whine about how shitty I feel but it really sucks. I vacuumed only half of the house Saturday then had to lay down for half an hour. That’s ridiculous. I went to see my mom yesterday and told her, “I can’t stay long. I need to get home so I can take a nap before I go to bed.” I just feel like a slug. All I think about is sleeping. I didn’t even pick up my dog this weekend because I knew she wouldn’t get a whole lot of interaction with me since I just planned on sleeping. She stayed with grandma.
I still have some intermittent nausea, but I think it’s from the new blood pressure medication, and from what I’ve read, it should pass. That would be good because I also have no appetite, and I’m sure it’s from the nausea.
I had additional blood work done Friday for Dr. A, and I hope the creatinine levels are down. There’s nothing much I can do about that. Aside from drinking enough water (I have been), it’s beyond my control. I’m hoping that being off the Bactrim will make a significant difference. Even though it may not be particularly accurate, I’d like to see my GFR out of the teens; it’s alarming to see it that low.
I have an appointment with Dr. A next Thursday so some time toward the end of this week I’m assuming I need to repeat the 24 hour urine and more blood work. I hope this appointment works out. It’s at 12:30 and I have a patient myself at 1:00. I told this to the clerk when it was scheduled, and she assured me it would be fine. But last time Dr. A was 45 minutes late. That won’t work this time! I’m going to message her and remind her of that.
I was so excited this morning when I realized I’m off next Monday! An extra day to do nothing but sleep. But maybe by then I’ll be feeling better and won’t feel like just sleeping all day. Fingers crossed.
Hemoglobin: 8.5
Low, Low, Low 