Wow. I have been M.I.A for over six months now. Don't worry I will be posting all that has happened in these past six months in a series of posts. I'm finally back and I finally feel like myself again! Boy, have I got stories for you. I pretty much have been M.I.A from everything (all my social media accounts) besides twitter. It's nice to escape once in a while. I am already cringing, thinking about my e-mails that I haven't checked in six months. I am not looking forward to going through all of it last time I had over 3,000 e-mails. Ugh. I will go through them tomorrow and delete, delete, delete.
I had my first Rituxan infusion on Wednesday, March 20th. I was there from 8:30AM til 2:30PM. It took forever for the nurse to start my IV. Once the rituxan started to run through my veins, it just felt like cold liquid going through my veins. The nurse had to give me pulse steroids and saline too. At the beginning I had to remember to breathe and relax. I felt my throat closing in. My rituxan infusion went pretty well.
On Friday, March 22nd, I went to see my rheumatologist and she notices that even though I have been taking the prednisone my body was not absorbing it. I didn't gain any weight and I did not have the "moon face." She also noticed that I was still going through a lupus flare. This was two days after I had the Rituxan infusion. She wanted me to go back to the ER to get more labs done. I had a feeling that I was going to be admitted again. The ER was so crowded (old people in wheelchairs with breathalyzers, babies crying, people sitting in all of the chairs). I got there at 4PM and I wasn't seen by an ER doctor until 6PM. The wait was ridiculous. I guess more people were sick since it was close to Easter.
After I saw Dr. Eng, she told me they were admitting me. It was about 10PM. They put me on the 8th floor, which is the oncology unit. Everything was a blur-especially time. Most of the time I wasn't sure what day it was (at least I had my phone to let me know what day it was). My vision was very blurry, I was highly medicated. I still felt lightheaded, had heart pains, night sweats, no appetite, etc.
A lot has happened in these past six months. I was hospitalized again from March till April. I stayed in the hospital for another twelve days. What was wrong with me? I was going through a really severe lupus flare (meaning my lupus was very active). The hospital doctors and my doctor wanted to make sure that we rule out any other diseases that I may have because people with lupus are prone to having other autoimmune diseases too. But while I was in the hospital, the doctors couldn't figure out what was going on with me. My lupus was not "textbook lupus." It was all over the place, making it very hard for the doctors to treat me.
I have been to many hospitals and I must say that Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach has one of the BEST patient care ever. The doctors are top-notch and the nurses, phlebotomists, technicians, were all very compassionate, understanding, and you can tell that they care and love what they do. Not a lot of people can say that they love their jobs. I hope one day I can say that I love what I do.
xoxo,
Kat
