Blood, Banter, and Pratfalls.

An exceedingly unattractive knot is swelling on the back of my head.  No, I doubt I've been possessed by Body Snatchers; I slid on the ice and fell flat on my back with my head crashing into the concrete. Not at all amusing, trust me. I have a hard head, but this is throbbing though there is no broken skin.

Was returning from another long day of transfusions and over-all medical runarounds when it happened. It was getting dark and I didn't watch my step carefully enough - obviously.

It's been a rough day from the get-go. Though I cleaned off the car yesterday in preparation for today's appointments, a snow plow came through last night and half plowed the car in place. Fortunately, the snow was still light so I was able to move enough out of the way to get onto the roadway without getting stuck.

At the infusion center I was to receive 2 units of blood and told one was already to go.  Two hours later - still no blood product.  Seems the hospital wouldn't release the single unit until the second was tested and verified.  First unit started at 12:30 and the second at 3 o'clock.  

For the first time in months I spiked a high fever during the second unit, thought the game was over, shot to hell and I'd end up in the hospital.  That didn't happen,  tenks-be-to-gott.  They worked around it, pumped me with Benadryl and Lasix; the temperature was down in less than 15 minutes.  By the time I got to the car, drove home - fell - and finally got into the apartment at 6, I was totally exhausted.

Throughout the day there is some ugly underlying mishugas going on between the Cancer Center and the office of the Specialist at Hopkins, over the fact that I don't have "private" insurance. I think we all know what that means, right class?

The hospital patient advocate (who checks on me periodically) took over and made a few phone calls.  I asked her not to, but she insisted. My feeling is that if they don't want me because of the private insurance issue, they will probably not treat me well in the long run.  Hey!  I've seen this scenario played out before and know it can, and does happen. There was no status change by this evening, but they'll keep me posted as things progress - or not.  

Meanwhile a disc containing results of all the relevant tests of the past 6 months was provided to take with me where-ever I go next.  All is up in the air. Nothing new.

My back, butt, head and elbows hurt and I have no appetite to speak of, so I'm going to bed. Planning on a good breakfast in the morning.  We'll see.

And so it goes.

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