Who knew IV iron was a thing?
The test results from my oncology appointment were not surprising. My iron levels were still low. Amazingly, my Hgb had gone up to 9.5. Still low, but better than my previous test. However, that doesn't give the big picture. I won't get into the details of all of the testing that was done. I consider myself pretty knowledgable about this type of stuff. My kids call me a nerd. They can ask me almost any random question and I have an answer. I joke that I am a wealth of useless knowledge. We play lots of games as a family. My favorite is trivia...they all want to be on my team, but when we are not playing team games, they try to stump me. I am frequently met with, "Why do you know that?" All that to say, there were some results that I had to google. I will spare you all the details of the various results, but one popped up as critical. My iron saturation was only 3%.
The doctor called a few hours after I saw my results on the Labcorp website and we discussed all of the things that I had previously googled. She wanted to do an IV iron infusion and have it done a week or 2 before surgery. The goal was to give me a boost to help with my healing and decrease the need for a blood transfusion. Yes, please! How fast can I do this and why have I not known this was a thing??? Of course, orders, and my own get it done attitude don't work at the same speed as the insurance company. A week later they called to schedule. I was ready--more than ready. My 'let's feel better date' was set for the following day, December 11. I was doing a happy dance in the office that afternoon!
Well, I mentioned in a previous post that things within my whole GI system had been off since the colonoscopy. Actually, they had been off most of the fall, but this was so much worse. The nausea was sometimes manageable. Well, not really, but I learned how to put on my big girl panties and pretend that it didn't exist. I am kind of hoping this skill comes in handy over the next few months. Anyway, I woke up that morning throwing up. I literally laid (lay, laid, lie...I can never get it right, so you pick the right one in your mind) on the bathroom floor until it was time to leave. I swallowed some Pepto on my way out the door and prayed that the feeling would go away. It didn't. I had to find a ziploc bag while sitting in traffic, because I felt so bad. I made it to the parking lot when the infusion center called. For some reason my prescription didn't make it onto the delivery. The nurse explained that it was custom made for me based on my weight and blood test results. There was another delivery at noon, but by the time it would be ready, there wouldn't be enough time for the infusion. I was told to expect to be there 5-5.5 hours. Because the error was theirs and I didn't cancel, I automatically got an appointment at the same time for the following day. This was a HUGE blessing! There was absolutely no way I could have sat there and not vomited. I also had to be well enough to identify any potentially dangerous side effects since this would be my first time. I drove home and started vomiting as soon as I got out of the car.
Thankfully I felt a lot better the next day. The infusion center has a very different feeling to it. I was surprised and impressed with everyone I came into contact with. They were all so nice and seemed to genuinely care. They explained exactly what was going to happen and what to expect. I got set up in my room.
The first step was to get my IV placed. I got to pick the arm. My arms have always had great veins, but during my illness and hospitalization in 2018, I lost the good ones in my left arm. My IV blew. I had complained all night, but the nurse did not listen to me and would't turn on the light to check it out. The next morning my arm was twice it's normal size and kinda hurt. Since that incident, my left arm seemed to dry up. Not really, but the veins seemed to have rerouted themselves. The nurse at the blood draw the week before was convinced she could fill all of her tubes from my left arm... I often wonder if they are going to leave any blood for me. Needless to say, after the stick and then prodding around inside the vein in my arm, she gave up. Right arm it is! Sorry about the IV history... Anway, after the placement, they brought me several warm blankets and coffee! I love my coffee!!!
The next step in the process was mixing all the things. I don't even remember all of the things, but I think I got nausea meds (that would have been amazing the day before) and benadryl. Then it was time for a test. Basically, they gave me a 15 minute infusion of the iron. Then I had to wait for an hour to make sure I wasn't going to have a major reaction. What do you do for an hour when you are sitting in a room all alone? Nothing? I do not do nothing very well. I think I played Candy Crush for the first time in years. At some point I turned the tv on and watched Young and the Restless. Don't make fun of me AND Victor Newman is still there. A volunteer came by and listed off some drink options-- coffee, water, juice, tea, maybe soda (I don't remember), and hot chocolate. The child in me picked the hot chocolate. Then she came back and took my lunch order. I didn't know that was a thing, but cool! Good to know that they will feed me if I am there over the lunch hour.
I passed the test! I was able to get the liquid gold. At least I wanted to pretend it was gold and not rusty water colored. Two and a half hours of infusing followed by another wait and watch for 30 minutes. Obviously, by this time Young and the Restless was over. Time to channel flip. I really hate channel flipping, so found a channel and stayed there. Now I know you are on the edge of your seats waiting to find out what channel I found. I will give you a hint. It is December. If you guessed that I found the Hallmark Channel with their cheesy Christmas movies you would be correct. Your prize is a....CANDY CANE!
My lunch arrived. I was impressed, because it was not horrible despite being hospital food. The volunteer went above and beyond to make sure I had everything that I needed. I have always eaten slow...slowly (not sure which grammar rule fits here), but lately my eating has been extra slow. I probably worked on that salad for an hour and still didn't eat all of it. Side note here- don't take me out to eat if you are in a hurry. Funny that the only thing I don't hurry is eating. I would be losing my mind if the shoe was on the other foot and I had to wait on myself to eat.
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