I was starting to feel better and managed a 10 minute walk on Thursday (start of week 2) and 20 minutes on Friday. I was worn out later on though and sent the kids off to their Dad's for dinner whilst I had a nap on the sofa. I woke up with a fever of 38 degrees and shivering. I knew I had to phone the hospital and go in. I assumed they would just give me some antibiotic tablets and I'd be home a few hours later.
Unfortunately I had severe neuropenia which is when the neutrophils (a type of white blood cell) go down below 500 (normally they should be around 6700. Mine were 100!) Anything below 1500 is not good. They put me on intravenous antibiotics immediately, attaching it to my PICC line, and told me I would have to stay in overnight. This turned into 4 days in isolation in a 10x8ft hospital room. I was not allowed to step outside the door. Staff contact was minimal - blood pressure and temperature obs periodically, bloods taken once or twice a day, a saline drip overnight and 3 lots of antibiotic drips a day.
I had no bath or shower, just a sink in the corner, no tv, there was very little food they could offer me if any at all sometimes due to me being a vegetarian with a lactose intolerance and so I had to have food brought in to me from my brilliant friends. Visitors had to wear aprons, disinfect their hands and be illness free. Visiting times were limited to 3 and a half hours in total a day. I was woken at 6am every morning for my drip usually after only having 3 to 5 hours sleep. It drove me slightly crazy after a while looking at the same 4 walls!
After 24 hours my blood count went up from 0.1 to 0.3 and at the end of day 3 it was 4.3 ie 4300. I had my hopes up for going home the next day so my bags were packed by 8.45am! A little premature perhaps. They kept me waiting around all day until 4pm when a nurse said I would have to stay in. I was not in a good state at that time. My mind was set on getting out of there. They let me out of my room and I wandered aimlessly around the 2nd floor until I came to the chapel where my eyes lit up upon seeing a grand piano in the corner! I played for an hour. No one disturbed me so I guess it was ok to do that. It probably saved my sanity!
At 5pm a doctor came and spoke to me. My friend came and rescued me and persuaded them to let me go rather than me having to discharge myself. Without him I would probably have been in there another 2 days. They eventually located the right antibiotic tablets and that night I went back to his and had a break from everything for 24 hours. We danced and played music. He sang and I played keyboard. He took very good care of me and then took me to Emily's. Another episode of Fight Girls down and I went home.
I woke up feeling quite energised. Pretty much like normal, although I know to take it easy now as tiredness creeps up on you fast. I stuck some tunes on and danced round the lounge for a bit and then rested until the nurses came. They flushed my line through with heparin to stop blood clots and changed the dressing. I happened to see the line pull out of my arm by a couple of centimetres and as I bent my arm it went back in again a bit. It freaked me out and I had to lie down as I felt light headed! I'm not good with things like that although I have got to the point where I can watch my blood going into a syringe so I have made some progress. I can move my arm a bit better again now, still have to go easy putting it into coat sleeves etc, but after so much use over the last few days, the site of the line entry is quite sore and bruised now. I have a week for it to settle down until the next dressing change, and then it will be week 3 and round 2 of chemo.