Hemoglobin High: Monday, June 29, 2009

Before I get into today's update, thanks to all of you for the really nice, caring notes you either posted to my blog or sent me via email in regards to yesterday's post. As I knew I would, I snapped out of my funk quickly and had a much, MUCH better day today, which is probably due to both our beautiful weather and my red count being on the rise. As for today, I was back at Dr. E's office for more blood work and my pre-op appointment. Here's the rundown:

First, my hemoglobin count was up a whole point to 9.0, which means that I don't have to have a transfusion this week. Thank God! Like I said, the last thing I needed was to coordinate and pay for yet another procedure. Worst case, I'll get a transfusion when I go in for surgery on the 9th, which is fine because I'll probably be asleep when it happens anyway. I can deal with that. I can deal with anything if I get to sleep through it...as many of you know!

There really aren't too many noteworthy items to report from my pre-op appointment with Dr. E. He was an hour late. What else is new? He reviewed my colon prep for the surgery. What else is new? He reviewed what he was removing during my surgery and commented that he was running out of things to remove. Uh, not funny. At all. And I told him so. He reviewed my post-surgery chemo schedule. Nothing new there. I should resume chemo on Friday, August 7 (and will then have two more rounds on August 28 and September 18). He told me when to schedule my post-op appointment, which is now scheduled for Monday, July 20. I reminded him that I sincerely hoped this one wouldn't involve treatment of a wound infection. He agreed that would be nice. Let's see...what else? Oh, many of you might be interested to know that he finally told me to start taking iron supplements. They can wreak havoc on your stomach and, uh, "system," which is why they weren't prescribed earlier but we both agreed that since I eat about 10x the amount of vegetables as the rest of his patients, I should be okay in that department and will benefit greatly from the extra help. Oh, and you may be interested to know that Dr. E plans to be "shitfaced" while sitting on the beach in front of the Hotel Del on Coronado Island in about 24 hours. He was in the Navy in his former life and has many fond memories of San Diego from his time in the Navy so he likes to get away there when he can. I parted ways by telling him that I'd see him at 0: dark hundred hours on the morning of the 9th (and explained that I'd be the one with the bald head and the frown on my face) and wished him a nice four-day getaway with the wife and kids.