It's been nearly three weeks of IV's and no real sign of improvement. In fact, at my follow-up appointment last Tuesday my PFT's had dropped slightly, that, coupled with having low energy levels led to the decision of going one more week of IV's. Fine. Ok. Lets get this down.
Come Wednesday I was feeling even worse. Fevers with bouts of extreme sweating. Like soaking a t-shirt just sitting down along with my reoccurring joint pain this time concentrated in the ankles. After contacting my fabulous CF Team, a rush blood draw followed by a trip to urgent care, it was discovered that I have Neutropenia.
Sort of sounds like a rodent, Oregon has a Nutria. Cute Beaver like things!
But, truly Neutropenia is pretty serious. It's believed that my onset of Neutropenia is from the IV meds. Therefore, we stopped those immediately and the PICC was ordered to be pulled, since PICC's have a high blood infection rate. The main issue with Neutropenia is that it suppresses your immune system because of the extremely low white blood cell counts. This leaves the patient very vulnerable to bacterial and fungal infections. Just what I need. Where's the cute Nutria?
I tell you I'm not a simple case. Just when we think things might be smoothing out we hit a large Nutria.
On the upside, I can shower. Oh, yes. A shower. It was like the fountain of youth pouring down on my body. Taking a bath with your left arm wrapped-to-the-nines in plastic wrap raised as far in the air as I could muster was not doing it.
Meanwhile, I'm in lock down mode to ward off infection. Doing blood work tomorrow to see if any white blood cells have rejuvinated and resting.
So, next time you hear Neutropenia don't mistake it for a beaver-like rodent called the Nutria!!
~Doodlin'
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