Horrid night again. Had lots of pain from the new chest tube site in addition to the “normal” pain. Fever was up and down and my sheets were soaked from sweat again. I had to give in at 3 a.m. and call the nurse to double up on the pain meds. The doctors and nurses all tell me that the best road to recovery means not having pain, so to take all the pain meds I need, but I find it difficult to comply. Narcotics are fun and all, but I’ve now had that fun and don’t want anything more to do with them. I finally slept a couple of hours, and woke to a normal temp and vitals. My haemoglobin level, thanks to the transfusion, has come up just enough that the doc says it’s OK, and it should climb on it’s own from here.
The dietitian visits with a reminder that I can no longer have grapefruit or grapefruit juice – ever. I knew this, even though I love grapefruit. It inhibits an enzyme which aids the absorption of the anti-rejection meds (as do Pomelos and Seville Oranges). She also mentions, kind of off-handedly, not to have raw fish either. WHAT? As in sushi? Wait a minute, nobody told me that, and it’s too late now to call the deal off…. After some discussion and gentle persuasion, she concedes that it’s a safety precaution for the first year or so, but to use my discretion and only eat where I am convinced of cleanliness and appropriately prepared fish. Whew. There are a ton of things that I’m going to have to remember are now unsafe for me. Little things like working in the garden – bacteria in the soil which a “normal” immune system defends against is something quite dangerous now for me. I’m going to find it hard not to work in the garden once I’m feeling well again, so I may be relegated to scurrying about with mask and rubber gloves in the twilight so the neighbours can’t see me.
No comments:
Post a Comment