Today was my 4th treatment. Not that the 4th treatment is significant, but this was the first trip by myself and didn't have anything to crochet while I was waiting. I happened to be between projects. It may not seem like this is such a big deal, and I do love to read, but you have to understand the dynamics of a day at Duke and the Duke Treatment Room Waiting Room.
I arrive and check in for labs about 10. After I sit down, I usually have less than 10 minutes to wait for my labs to be drawn. I could pick up a book then, but would just have to put it down again, and I am always on alert for my name to be called. After labs are drawn, I go down the hall and check into the treatment room waiting room. The wait time here can be 1-2 hours or more. I have to wait on my labs to get back and from those results my doctor determines whether the Nplate dosage needs to be increased. There are people constantly in and out and any one of those people could be Dr. M with my counts. Pagers go off, people are talking on cell phones, and Rachael Ray is cooking something or the women of The View are talking. It's a very distracting environment and not conducive to reading! When I've taken my crochet, it gives me something to do instead of just sit. You can only play Angry Birds for so long and no one wants to sit and stare into space. Then you're that weird person staring at everyone. Needless to say, I have fresh yarn and a fresh pattern to begin! And I got yarn for a project that has to be finished by March 11. Very excited about that--these colors sat in the bin and YELLED at me to get them.
And so many people have been so kind and offered to go with me and I truly appreciate it, but I'm not ready for that yet. That may sound odd to everyone but my parents. I really do try to....not downplay the ITP, but not make it the driving force in my life. I'm having to take a lot of time out of work, and part of me feels like if more people take time off work, it makes this a much bigger deal than it is--and this is maintenance therapy. An emergency is different--I need/want support when I'm having urgent issues, because my urgent issues are a big deal.
Despite having a blog, my ITP is something I tend to keep close. I think what I like most about the blog is I can just write. I don't feel like anyone's going to feel sorry for me or pity me. I don't like telling the same story forty-eleven times, so it's much easier on me than the phone. If charted, my ITP history would look like a roller coaster with its good things and bad things. Early on, I discovered how frustrating it is to have good news one day, bad news the next, and it's exhausting to relay all that to people. My counts today were 244,000--in the normal range--YAY!--with the Nplate being the only medication. This is really encouraging. My dosage is going to stay the same for now, unless we see something different.
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