*does the happy dance*
Ok, so bear with me if I'm overly hyper-excited...So, I'm eight treatments into my iron now (of a total 15) and they wanted to do a CBC (complete blood count) to see how things were progressing. I reported that I've been waking up on my own-something that never happens-after only eight hours of sleep. (where previously, I could sleep 10, 11, 12 or more if something didn't wake me up)
It's working!I went from a count of 6.8 to 9.0 in a week and a half-half way through my treatment. !!! For those of you who don't realize the importance of this, basically, I was a walking corpse-no iron, no hemoglobin, no oxygen in my blood to keep me functioning. I've been this way for at least four years that I know of and it's kept me sick and weak and made me lose more jobs to drop-dead-fatigue and sickness then I care to count. A normal woman should be no lower then 12. At 6.8 the doctors didn't know how I was able to function at all-let alone try to live through a normal life. They pressed me to do a transfusion-something I was very hesitant about especially considering it was a bandage treatment to cover up but in no way
correct the problem. It was also a very temporary solution, offering me at best a month or two of feeling better. The iron injections on the other hand, are just replacing what is missing from my body and allowing my bone marrow to start producing healthy, fat, red blood cells
naturally-something they couldn't do without the presence of iron in my system.
So...in short, what this means is,
it's working The problem was simply a lack of iron deposits in my body. There's nothing wrong with my bone marrow or genes, there's nothing wrong with my cell production, or my body in a whole-I was just starved for iron. Now that I'm getting it, my body is eating it up-and fast. Red blood cell maturity takes about three weeks, but in under two, there's already a marked increase in my blood counts and red blood cell size. Yeah!!!! The doctor says by the end I should be between 12-14. I can't even fathom.
Anyway, I'm so super thrilled. It's nice that for once SOMETHING is working. That I'm not just completly fucked up and that my body is responding so well to the treatments. It's wonderful. Absolutely wonderful!
~ flowers bloom near Memory and Dream
at 3/7/2001 05:11:32 PM ~
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I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard....this is so absoultly hysterically adorable:
http://orbizart.tripod.com/downloads/fuzzawuzwuz.zip?1For those of you who know my co-Admin Orb from the forum, here's a chance to hear her sing the "Fuzza Wuzza" song in dedication to her cat. This is just the best. I'm still giggling over this. So...everyone, check it out...it's great.
*laughing* Thanks dear, I needed the smile!
-m
~ flowers bloom near Memory and Dream
at 3/7/2001 02:26:40 PM ~
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Gods, I've been a slacker, haven't I? Last post was the 28th? Blah...that's what I get for turning off my brain I suppose. But, lately, I've just had to or else I'll curl in a uselessly tiny ball of quivering goo, sobbing and babbling about how all the things in my life are stacked against me. It's just easier to turn it off, pretend its not there, and actually semi-function.
Still stuck in the position of having ZERO job leads or prospects. Several little temp jobs have come my way, but none that will allow me the time I need to get to the doctor for the this week and next. I HAVE to be there at 4pm everyday for this iron-it's not like it will do me any good if I just put it off. I have to see this through and it's killing any chance I have at aquiring and holding a job. How do you tell someone that you need to leave at 3:30 every day to make it to the doctor's by four when you've just walked in the door? But, I need that check. Already, it's almost a week without one. Every week I don't get paid, I end up almost a month behind on my bills. It's a damned cycle of frustration and battling needs. I
need to do this iron to get me healthy, but I
need a job to pay my bills and keep a roof over my head!
Add to that the fact that my love life is on moment-to-moment life support and you can see why I'm just turning my brain off rather then deal with it all at once. I'm trying hard to focus on one and only one thing-my health. It's the only thing I have any real control over and the only thing I can work towards fixing at this juncture. It's the only thing that has a definate goal, so it's the only thing I'm dealing with. Everything else lingers in the back of my mind though...numbing me and keeping me slow and tired.
I'm going to get up from the computer now and move to the couch...not that the change in scenery will actually do any good, but I'm cold and the blanket it out there...
~ flowers bloom near Memory and Dream
at 3/6/2001 05:38:34 PM ~
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