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On the night before yesterday's, I had developed a slight pain in the lower part of the right chest. The pain was really so excruciating that it did not allow me to sleep almost half the night. So, yesterday, I had to rush to my doctor complaining about the pain and I realized that I was febrile when the thermometer showed well around 102 def F! So, after a few tests including an ECG, Dr.Niti told me the pain might be due to an infection and suggested me to take an anti-biotic along with Crocin, which is for controlling down the temperature.
Still this pain is troubling me in the nights, dragging me away from my usual sound sleeps! Of course, when I don't get sleep I will drive trains of fantasies - literary, humorous, etc - to keep myself engaged :) I hope I will get out of this ordeal sooner than later.
For the first time in my experience with the colostomy in the past one-and-half years, yesterday I had a double blow: I had to replace the colostomy pouch twice on the same day! It was a horrible experience!
Ever since I had the colostomy surgery (for more details on colostomy, see my earlier post here) in mid-June, 2009, I have been replacing the pouch every week on an average. The system of colostomy comes with a pouch and a fitting flange; the flange is fitted around the stoma with a set of paper or dynaplast strips and the plastic pouch sits snugly on the flange. The feces/stool gets collected in the pouch and after usually a week, the flange begins to open and it needs a replacement since the plaster strips loosen themselves over time.
So, yesterday, it was my usual time for dressing and replacement of the system, and I promptly got it done at the BIO with my usual gang of sisters working on it. Strangely, by the time, I reached almost home, I realized that the flange this time already got opened and some feces had leaked through touching the surface of my abdomen! Fortunately, it was not too fluid to flow down and spoil my clothes! It was already 5:30 PM with continuous drizzle and I had to return to the hospital again for a fresh replacement! By the time I reached the hospital, it was well about an hour and when I reached back home it was almost 8 PM! It was drizzling even then and with my eyes bloated with continuous driving for more than 5 hours in the city's jammed roads and rainy airs, it was quite a trouble! This had been one of the harrowing experiences for me surviving the disease!
On the positive note, this incident had taught me to acknowledge the presence of crisis and to react to it with a calm mind! (I realized the crisis moments and was tense in those moments when the feces was touching my abdomen and was in a hurry to visit the hospital for the second time. My reaction: acknowledge the crisis, de-stress the mind; get calm! I had tea served by my mother and I smiled! :)) The whole episode gave me lessons on handling a typical crisis situation and made some revelations on how react in those situations! :) Definitely, I have improved. I have arrived. :)
Consequent to the PET-CT scan in the third week of October last and the changed regimen of the chemo medicines suggested by my oncologist, Dr.Niti, I had my blood tested two days back. The objective was to see how the critical parameters such as white blood cell (WBC) count and the INR value so as to gauge the effectiveness of the treatment. And, the test results showed that all the critical parameters fall in their biologically permissive ranges! :) (For instance, the WBC count was 6.17 (permissible range: 4 - 11) and the INR is 2.37 (permissible range: 2.0 - 3.0).)
I am particularly happy with two things: (1) good and favorable blood test results, and (2) the responsiveness and sensitivity with which my doctor reacted to these results. Immediately after getting my test numbers known orally from Deepika Sister, I had emailed the results to my doctor who in her natural way replied back saying that "All looks well!". It is good on one hand to have positive news and to have a responsive doctor on the other, who sits on top of her case with interest and responds with empathy! Thank you, doc! :)
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