ARG

Managing your treatment can be a big fat headache. Even though I try to stay on top of things, sometimes you just have to throw your hands in the air and say "I give up! Nothing I can do can control this situation. I'm just going to let nature take it's course and hope everything will work out."

Today was one of those days. I got my blood tested at the Fremont infusion clinic at 9am this morning. My results came in electronically through email around 11:30am. Here are my counts with the normal range in (__):

WBC: 0.7 (3.5-12.5 K/uL) - LOW
RBC: 2.60 (3.60-5.10 M/uL) - LOW
Hemoglobin: 9.4 (11-15 g/dL) - LOW
Platelets: 13 (140-400 K/uL) - VERY LOW

As soon as I got my results, I emailed my doctor and called his nurse to let them know that my platelet count was very low and that I probably needed a transfusion (I tranfuse when platelets are below 20). In my message, I asked if I could get the transfusion at the Walnut Creek clinic since I was already planning to come to the Walnut Creek Hospital for my scheduled check up appointment with my oncologist at 3:40pm. (FYI, it's about an hour drive from Fremont to Walnut Creek)

For me, platelet tranfusions wipe me out because I take Benadryl to limit any allergic reactions. I get crazy hives when I don't take Benadryl before my platelet transfusions. Ideally I wanted to get the transfusion after my doctor's appointment so I could go straight home and rest.

My doctor's nurse called at 12:30pm and said that I should get the transfusion at the Fremont clinic because everything had already been ordered there. She said she was going to call Fremont to make sure everything was in order. By 2pm I had not heard anything from either my doctor's nurse or the Fremont clinic. I called both locations and left more messages to let them know I was still waiting to hear back from them and that I was planning to head to Walnut Creek for my check up. Fremont called me back to say that they had not ordered the platelets because they agreed that I should get the platelets at Walnut Creek. My doctor's nurse called again and said that I couldn't get the platelets in Walnut Creek because she had not arranged anything. She said that it shouldn't take Fremont that long to order the platelets (even though in reality it always takes about 2-3 hours to order them). I argued that if it wasn't going to take Fremont that long, why couldn't it be just as easy to order them in Walnut Creek. After multiple calls back and forth, it was finally decided that I would cancel my doctor's appointment in Walnut Creek and get my transfusion in Fremont at 4pm before they close for the weekend.

At the end of the day, everything worked out. However, this whole ordeal took up my entire morning and it just made me realize how difficult it must be for people who speak English as a 2nd language or older people that don't have the energy to deal with all of this. How frustrating...