Day 113 - tortured by her own marrow

So, I guess my marrow is getting back at me for all the poison I've poured into it. My ANC is *still* stuck at 200. Dr. Hill thinks it may be a med side effect and has switched me to the antibiotic (ceftriaxone) I'll be taking at home anyway and stopped zosyn (started to replace ceftaz when I was still spiking fevers and the docs thought--I never thought--that I might have an oral infection). Anyway, I have had another day of no fevers and not much else either.

Fortunately Tommie came to visit me and told me stories about her beautiful new apartment with huge shiny wooden floors and how Ellie slid around and how happily she and Kita explored the nooks and storage areas together. We had a nice time, ate lunch and looked a few photos. She had to leave woefully early as it is a three hour round trip drive.

I also walked some: up a flight of stairs, about a half mile all told, then down two flights of stairs. I was beginning to be aware of working at this point, but not feeling exhausted so I'm getting stronger and more endurant every day. (ok, smarty pants, what is the adjective for "having endurance"? I could have said "stronger and more enduring every day," but that makes me sound like a style of clothing. I suppose "gaining in strength and endurance every day" would be nicely parallel and not misleading, but lacking in panache. Here: endurant: capable of enduring adversity, severity, or hardship from Merriam-Webster, pretty much what I meant.) 

I also read this week's Annals which is surprisingly thin from my POV. There was an "In the Clinic" about contraception which was useful and there was a nice review of what the PCP needs to know about Preexposure Prophylaxis for HIV. There were a bunch of articles about giving patients access to read their medical record, but for me, this is a huge yawn because DHC has been doing that since before I was at DHC. So, Annals writer, doctors don't find it burdensome for patients to have access to their own records? How very interesting, is water still wet?

I did the sudokus for today and caught up with a couple of old crossword puzzles from last septic week. Dr Hill came in and we chatted for a while. My nurse today advocated very well for me this morning with Dr. Hill in puting together a plan to get me home tomorrow. I am very grateful; filled with enduring gratitude. The idea is that if I hadn't had the fevers last week, I'd be sitting at home with an ANC of 200 now so why make me stay here just because my ANC is 200? Maybe it's the antibiotic holding it down so we'll change to the one I'm going home on anyway and watch me for 24 hours and then barring fevers and weird things happening to my cell counts, I get to go home. Thank you, Kathy!

I am grateful for my strong advocate. May you have one when you need one as well.