Help I'm Nadiring!

I stopped by the clinic yesterday because I was running a fever. After some blood work, a chest x-ray, and this really fun procedure where they stick a suction tube up your nose, the PA told me I was "nadiring". After some tedious research (wikipedia) I learned that Nadir is an Arabic word that means "opposite". In astronomy the nadir is the opposite of the zenith, and can also be used to describe the lowest point of a star or planet's orbit.

A cancer patient reaches their "nadir" when their blood counts hit rock bottom. Thus "nadiring" describes that your blood counts are spiraling, and spiraling they were. When I came in my platelets were at a 10, which is super low (I've had counts in the 300 range before). My nuetrophils (I like to think of these as my "fighter cells" because they attack bacteria and infection) were at zero. Finally, my overall count (my hematocrit) had dropped from 33% down to 26% (if I drop below 24% they give me a blood transfusion). The PA consulted with the Dr. and they decided to admit me and give me a platelet transfusion right away.

It was a pretty lonely afternoon - my TV wasn't working, my cell phone battery died, and I had only brought one book. My nurse brought me a new packet the hospital had put together and I read through every pamphlet. Things got interesting when I looked in the mirror in the bathroom. My nose and forehead were red and puffy. As I washed my hands I noticed the rash was running up my forearms and then I lifted up my shirt - yup nasty itchy rash all across my torso too. 

I paged the nurses station and said something like, "I'm getting a little rashy in here". My nurse brought some IV Benadryl and let me tell you that the liquid stuff hits your head pretty quick.  As I'm starting to feel tired and a bit dizzy the nurse gets up to leave and says, "Just let me know if you have trouble breathing." I hear myself say, "Okay."

Okay! What? Not okay, how am I supposed to call you if I can't breathe! I spent the next 60 minutes forcing myself to stay awake so I wouldn't fall asleep and stop breathing - I'm starting to think that "paranoia" is a possible side effect from Benadryl. Needless to say, the rash cleared up within about an hour, and I felt much better when my beautiful wife arrived with a bag things for me.

The nadiring has continued. It might have been all the cheering and fist pumping during the Jazz game, but my hematocrit dropped to 23.3 this morning. I received 2 blood transfusions and with each one - more hives (but nothing as bad as yesterday's). We're not sure why I'm not reacting well to the transfusions, but moving forward they will give me Benadryl prior to each one. 

My nasal culture revealed I have type B influenza - thus the fevers and feeling awful for the past week. The trouble is you can't really beat the flu when you don't have any fighters (nuetrophils). The good news is that they have specific antibiotics that I am now taking that will fight for me.

With me fighting the flu, the date for my bone marrow transplant has become a big question mark. The task at hand is to get rid of this flu and get my blood counts back up. So let it be written, so let it be done!