Call this The Friday Morning After. (Sitting on my cosy couch, basically feeling like shit despite some decent weather here in Seattle.)
After yesterday's adventures, I seem to have come down with a cold--stuffy nose, sore throat, and swollen glands. Yesterday's adventures: Treatment (see post below), plus a visit with my doctor.
I was at the cancer center a total of FIVE hours, which put me in a totally bad mood. And I found out that my anemia was worse than ever, despite heroic efforts on my part to increase the iron in my diet, and the slurping down twice a day of an iron tonic that tasted like dead weeds and upset my tummy to boot.
So, in consultation with my oncologist, decided to go ahead and get the Aranesp shot, despite my qualms about it. My hematocrit was at 27. Much lower, and I'd be needing a blood transfusion. Given that choice, I opted for the shot.
The good news there is that my anemia, with its shortness of breath, fatigue, etc., etc., should be better in just a couple of weeks. Something good to look forward to.
The bad news is that I'm still not happy with how things are handled at the treatment center. Going to make that phone call today, much as I don't want to, plus a whole batch of calls that I've been collecting to make all at once. (That's how I handle things I don't want to do.)
Yet More on Aranesp
Got home last night to find an e-mail from The Cheeky Librarian, who had done some research on Aranesp on my behalf.
Thanks, Teresa.
Here's what she had to say:
Hi Jeanne. I read your entry on Aranesp. Let me know if you want me to REALLY research it, but in the meantime, MedlinePlus has an entry on it, and they say either injected or IV (Back to Jeanne: the Reuters story says it is given by IV; I've always gotten it as a shot):
MedlinePlus
I looked up clinical trials on it--there are 31 listed at the U.S. gov. site:
clinical trials
And the news section links to related news items below the Reuters news story:
news items
Makes me happy to have friends out there who will do something like this without my even asking! Uh, oh, my bad mood is lifting ... Still feel lousy, though. Guess I'll skip the phone calling and take a nap.
@ Jeanne Sather 2007.
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