Fevers and Rashes and Thrush...Oh My!
I was pulled in to UCSF today to have my blistery rash examined and to get IV fluids for dehydration (from the diarrhea). When I left the house, I dressed in a tank top and some light weight pants. I'm amazed I didn't rethink my choice, because that's fine for Concord but it's not so fine for San Francisco, where it is 10 to 30 degrees cooler on any given day!
On the drive over, I felt weird...warm, fussy, and faintly motion sick. I didn't know what to make of it, but honestly, I don't know what to make of anything while I'm doing chemo.
When I got to San Francisco, I still felt warm, so I didn't put on a sweater. I had the blood work done that the cancer center requested, then went across the street to see a nurse practitioner in a non-cancer clinic about the rash. The N.P. diagnosed it as something that I knew was wrong, but she didn't listen to me. I suggested shingles, given what that evil dermatologist said, and I was hoping she would culture for that. I can't tell if she did, though. At any rate, she seemed pretty stuck on her own diagnosis, requested a blood test, and gave me several prescriptions to start treatment. I felt frustrated and unheard.
After seeing her, I headed to the cancer center and called the nurse who has been helpful to me. She said that my blood counts were fine and because I had a white tongue, they were calling a prescription into a pharmacy. Given that I've had diarrhea for days, she also wanted a, um, sample of something. I had to walk to the receptionist and ask where to get the stuff for the sample.
"It's so hard to be a lady nowadays," I whispered to her. She laughed and directed me to the lab. It was all for naught, though, because there are some things ladies don't give samples of, and my body was not going to cross the line. C'est la vie.
I next went to the infusion center where, for the first time that day, someone took my vital signs. No wonder I was wearing a tank top--I had a fever! They gave me a liter of IV fluids (that process took maybe an hour and a half) while I read the magazine I brought as slowly as possible. Someone was taking lunch orders but they didn't ask me for an order. I'm not sure why.
By the time I was done getting the fluids, my temperature was down to 99 point something. I left and headed to a pharmacy near my home. Along the way, I called the nurse and told her to add to my chart: To temporarily cure Alix of diarrhea, request a sample.
While I was picking up my prescriptions, I started to feel warm again. Now, what the cancer center says is that if your temperature reaches 101, you have to call them or go into an ER, because it may be a sign of infection. The nurse called me while I was standing in the drug store and said that even though they have that guideline, fevers are not an exact science. If you feel like crap and your temp is 100.2, that's probably not good. So, I have to keep taking my temperature and letting them know what's going on.
By the time I got home, I was very tired and felt like I didn't know much more about what's going on with me than when I left the house. Based on the mouthwash that the nurse prescribed, I can tell they are diagnosing my tongue issue as thrush, sight unseen. I'll just add it to the growing list of medications I take during the day. I could open my own pharmacy at this point.
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