callmetj's InkSpot
Perpetual Ruminations
#1102951 added December 4, 2025 at 6:34pm
Restrictions: None
Restrictions: None
T.J.-Jerky
| Another busy day, but it wasn't supposed to be. I woke up with only one appointment to take care of this morning, to have a CT Scan taken with a contrast dye, looking for cancer. I got up around seven-thirty, providing me with an hour to enjoy some coffee and wake up. However, when I arrived at the hospital for the scan, they were unable to access a vein to administer the dye. After three attempts and three failures, I was sent over to the infusion center to have my Power Port accessed. But before they could access my port, they needed to have it approved by my doctor. He, of course, wanted to know why and had a few more tests done, including wanting me to pee in a cup. It took over an hour and a couple of cups of tea before I could squeeze out about an ounce for them to analyse. They did access my port and took a couple of vials of blood, as well. The verdict? I was low on some key electrolytes and on water. Yes, I was dehydrated, and not just a little. The first thing my doctor wanted was for me to be back in the hospital to have I fluids, electrolytes, and to be monitored. I refused and just had them pump a liter of water into me before going to my rescheduled CT Scan. After the scan, which went fine with the use of my port, I returned to the infusion center to have my port access removed, but they informed me that I would be staying for another liter of fluids, reinforced by some electrolytes I was in short supply of. I also had to be able to provide another urine sample. I decided that I may as well get some other appointments changed while I was hanging around the hospital with an IV attached to me. I had been scheduled to have labs and my immunotherapy in Fargo, but had previously requested to do all my infusions and labs here at home; ten minutes of driving beats two hours, especially this time of year. My poor nurse had to accompany me, via wheelchair, to get this all done. But with my wife by my side and the nurse behind me, I managed to get things set up to my liking, not my oncologist's. I do need to go to Fargo to go over the scan and my labs, but being there at noon is better than at seven in the morning. So, instead of everything in one day, I have labs here in Perham (it's actually pronounced Perm, and when the locals hear me say Per-ham, it drives them crazy), anyway, I digress. Labs on Monday in Perham at 9:00 a.m., a follow-up with my oncologist on Tuesday at noon, and if everything looks good on the labs, my infusion here in Perham on Wednesday. I would have just put up with doing it all in one day in Fargo, but I had to make a point. I have at least three times informed my oncologist in Fargo, his P.A. here in Perham, and his scheduling desk in Fargo that I do not want to do any of the treatments in Fargo; I would only do them here. So, as you can see, it was a matter of principle. Anywho, I spent the morning at the hospital, they filled me up with two liters of water, but they had to space them out so it wouldn't over-thin my blood. I'm balanced with electrolytes, and hopefully things will go better as I go forward. I do know I'm no longer suffering from vertigo, headaches, nausea, weakness, and blurred vision. It's amazing what a little water can do. How did it get so severe? I wasn't drinking quite enough (this is an ongoing problem for now, so I have to go in more than once a week for an IV water infusion), compounded with severe diarrhea from the chemo, and then an issue with bleeding from my sinuses, stomach lining, and even my intestinal tract. (It's nothing serious, just the smaller blood vessels have thinned so much from the chemo that they leak.) All this should be improving any day now, as I'm further out from that last infusion; the bleeding has already almost stopped, and I was put on Imodium (where will you be when diarrhea strikes). I was also given a shot in the stomach of something that is supposed to help me produce more platelets, which will stop the bleeding problem. Things are kind of hanging, but after getting a refill on H20, many of my problems faded away; some of the others have at least lessened. Surprisingly, even my sense of taste improved with hydration; who would have thinked it?  |
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About The Author
My writing doesn't follow any set genre, it's interdependent of my mood and all that's taking place in life. I'm still finding myself, what I write constitutes the markers along the path of that journey. With time, many things will manifest in my work and perhaps I will pursue one or two genres. For now, it's not, "What type of writing is my passion?"
"Writing is my passion."
