February 9, 2011
-
Well that’s new…
Posted by Stephanie 6pm CST from the hotel room Houston, TX
So, story time. Monday was dressing change change day. That in itself isn’t terribly exciting, except that since my dressing is going to be changed, it also means I can shower without copious amounts of saran wrap and water proof tape and that dressing can get wet, no problem. Now, a shower like that is something to get excited about, at least for me, who doesn’t have much to get excited about nowadays. ANYWAY, I was taking said shower, even shaved my legs (which won’t be necessary much longer, thanks chemo), and was just standing under the hot water when I got the overwhelming feeling that I needed to sit down. I wasn’t tired, so to speak, and my heart wasn’t racing–I just felt like I really needed to sit down and rest for a second before I could do anything else. So, I turned off the water, got out of the tub, and sat immediately down on a towel on the toilet seat. I kept thinking to myself, “Just sit here for a second, and then you can dry off,” and then the next thing I know, mom is asking me if I’m okay. ”Yes,” I answer, and I’m thinking, of course I’m okay. But then I start to realize that I’m no longer sitting, but laying on the floor in the fetal position. Naked. I must’ve passed out. Huh? ”Did you fall?” mom asks. ”No.” I’m starting to realize, yes, I must have, but I don’t want her to know that, because, hello, I don’t want anyone to walk in on me laying naked in the fetal position on the bathroom floor. That’d just be weird. ”Did you bump into something?” ”Yes. I think I slipped off the edge of the bathtub.” What? Why did I say that? I wasn’t even sitting on the edge of the tub! ”Do you need help?” ”No.” Well, maybe, but at this point, only a few seconds had elapsed, and I was still trying to get my bearings. Somehow I managed to answer her questions and convince her that I was okay. And I was. I knew I wasn’t hurt, and after another 20 seconds or so of laying on the floor, I managed to pull myself up to a sitting position. I stood up and took a minute to dry myself off while I had the momentum, then threw on my bathrobe and walked out into the hotel room to sit in the recliner chair. She gave me quite a strange look, and so I launched into my story of passing out, and that’s when it hit me. I passed out. I’ve never passed out randomly like that before. What on earth? It’s quite unnerving to be sitting somewhere one second, and then wake up the next second on the floor. I hit my head, though I don’t know whether it was on the tub or on the floor, and now have a light bruise. Otherwise, though, I’ve been fine since.
All mom and I can figure is that taking a long, hot shower caused my blood vessels to dilate to the point that my blood pressure dropped and I passed out for a second. I’ve taken long showers in hot water before and never had a problem, but never while on chemo, and my blood pressure does run on the low side normally anyway. It appears to be just a random fluke thing, but how funny is it that it was at that moment, in that situation? I can laugh about it now, but I am thankful it didn’t happen while I was standing in the shower! That would not have been good.
There ya go. A little something down here to break up the monotony. :) That’s the only exciting thing to really go on since I posted last. I had bloodwork Monday and today. Monday’s numbers came back a little funky–low phosphorus (which I am taking tablets for, and have been), and my C02 was only 22. For those of you that haven’t been following my treatments in years past, that’s low for your C02 level, and that’s what caused me to stop high-dose Ifosfamide before. My poor kidneys couldn’t hold onto enough bicarb, even with me taking 48 sodium bicarbonate tablets and having it packed into my I.V. fluids. So far through this chemo cycle, my C02 level had been staying steady around 25, so when I got results that it was dropping, I emailed my nurse Mara to see if I needed to start taking oral soda bicarb. She spoke to Dr. Benjamin, who decided to up the level in my fluids rather than have me start oral meds. It seems to be working–my C02 level today was up a point at 23. Hopefully it keeps climbing!
Okay, more to chat about, but I’ve got to head to the hospital for my chemo bag switch out. Tonight is bag #13 of 14, so the end is in sight! I can’t wait to get rid of this backpack for a week!
-Steph
