Day 53
4 October 94
03:00AM Oh boy, am I in PAIN! I got up to go to the bathroom and
couldn't make it back. My knees and ankles hurt so bad I almost fell on the
floor. I sat on a stool we have in the bathroom for about 10 mins. to see
it it would go away. I thought there was swelling in them and walking just
agrivated it or something. After a while I woke Lora and had her help me
into bed. The pain was still there, but I was able to get back to sleep.
Woke back up at about 05:00. The pain was almost gone, but I had to go to
the bathroom again. That was a mistake. Couldn't make it back to bed
again. Lora helped drag me back. I finally called the BMT ward around 6AM
and asked what the heck was going on. One of the nurses said it was prob.
the steroids or the cyclosporin. (They just raised that too.. Hmmm) Anyway,
she said I might want to wrap warm towels around them and come in when the
Docs get in. She said I could come in then and get some pain meds, but I
told her I could take the pain, I just wanted to know why it was there. I
decided to take a warm bath insted of the towels. Ahhhh.. That hits the
spot. I was almost a prune by the time 0700 roled around, but my knees and
ankles didn't hurt any more. :-) It wasn't easy getting Lora out of bed
that early. Tia just went in her PJs. We got the the hospital around 0750
and I checked in with my Doc. She said that most people get this and that
it is kinda routine. It is mostley from the Prednisone that I'm taking to
control GVHD. I'm still on over 100MG per day. Her and the pharmacist
decided to perscribe a drug called salsalaid (sp) for it. 2 pills, twice
per day. The drug is used mostley for arthritis, but it's good for BMT
people because it doesn't effect your platelets like asprin and other pain
meds like that. I'll get my perscription at around 12:30. The outpaitent
pharmacy was still closed when we left. 0830
We decided to to go to Dennys for breakfast. French toast.. Mmmm.
Tia and I shared her hashbrown, she wasn't as interested in them as I was.
Got back to the appt. and we all crashed for a while. It had been a long
morning for us all. I got a paper at Dennys and was doing some checking
on car prices for when we get home. Boy, computer prices here are good.
Lora would kill me if I even mentioned getting another. :-)
Opps... Sugar level was 375 today before dinner.. Must have been
all that surup and OJ I had for breakfast. Oh well, extra insulin.. Sugar
level was good by night. My legs are already feeling good. Well, I think
I'll take 2 sleeping pills tonight. I want to be rested for the marrow
extraction in the morning. Night.
Tige L. Phillips,
tige@teleport.com