Steak and Potatos

So right now, I basically have no immune system.   Every four hours, they check my vitals.  A vital check consists of a blood pressure reading, heart rate check and a temperature check.  As soon as I hit 100.5 or above, a flurry of activity happens.  (Regardless of what time of day or night it is.)  A fever is the first sign that there is some type of infection growing in my body.

On my last stay at Maine Med, I only spiked a fever twice.  The first time, it was preempted with severe chills to the point where my whole body was shaking uncontrollably.  The nurses kept putting warm blankets on me but the chills did not stop.  Eventually they game me an IV of Demerol at around 1:00AM.  The chills went away almost immediately and I entered a happy place that made me grin, giggle and drool a little bit.  As soon as the shakes stopped, a fever set in.

When you spike a fever, someone comes up from the lab to draw blood.  Directly from your vein.  A lot of blood.  They take that blood back to the lab and put it in test tubes and see if anything grows.  Then, based on what grows, they know how to treat it.  If you have read this blog at all, you know I am not fond of needles or blood.  Also, all the nurses on this floor know that fact.

When the girl from the lab showed up to take my

blood at 2:00AM, I let her know how much I did not like needles and asked if there was any other way to do this.  I was not making much sense I am sure due to the Demerol.  She was a 20ish year old Somalian girl with full head dress on.  I remember her being very nice and calming.  During the actual blood draw, my nurse came in and actually held my hand.  I know, pretty pittiful...

So, Friday night when I spiked a fever, I knew that meant a blood draw.  Who else walks in from the lab but the little Somalian girl from over a month ago.

"Hello Mr. Davis, I remember you!  Do you want me to go get your nurse so you can hold her hand?"  She was giggling as she asked the question....  I laughed and said that would not be necessary this time around as long as she could deal with seeing me cry.  She stayed in the room for a while after the blood draw and chatted with me.  She is was very nice. 

I spent most of the day Saturday watching the Hawaiian Ironman race live on the computer.  It is truly an amazing race and it was also a great race this year.  Definitely gave me some motivation and inspiration for this stupid "race" I am currently running in.  I was tracking a guy from Canada.  I have just started reading his blog.  He is guy that just few years ago completely out of shape.  He loves beer and every year has a "beer run" at his house.  It consists of a 5K run and you need to drink a beer at each K.  He has been triathlon training for the past three years and yesterday, he crossed the finishline of the toughest race course in the world carrying a Canadian flag in one hand and a beer in the other.  It was a riot but goes to prove the point that nothing is out of reach without hard work and dedication.  Check out his blog.  http://trainingpayne.blogspot.com/

Crystal came in last night and spent the night.  The Dixon's watched the kids at our house.  From what I understand, three of them were not that well behaved.  The big surprise is Paige was the good one.  She said to Katy, "I am being good aren't I?"   Anyway, I told Crystal I was craving steak and potatoes so she stopped by Bugaboo on the way in and got me 14oz of prime rib with fried onions, garlic butter and smashed potatoes.  Man was it good.

Feeling OK today.  No fever.  Counts are still going down.  May need some blood tomorrow as my red count is only 7.9 today.