Day 25

Friday. Riley has been very nauseous, and has absolutey no appetite.  "Food is gross" he says.
Riley had a blood transfusion today (2 units of red).  He always has such a nice Benedryl nap during transfusions.  When he woke up his eyes were so dry that he could hardly focus.  He then began to complain that his throat was really dry, so dry that he had no saliva to swallow with.  The doctor felt like it was the patch that Riley was using for nausea (and then of course dried up even more because of the large dose of Benedryl from the transfusion).  They decided to take the patch off.  It didn't seem to help him.  The doctor told Riley about a medicine called Marinol that can really help with nausea and even increase his appetite. It can give the patient possible side effects, like hallucinations (although, rare).  Riley decided to take the Marinol.   All seemed fine for awhile.  Riley and I discussed  how his hair had grown back in a little.  He says it hurts.  It is like tiny cactus needles.  We were surprised that it had grown in at all.  The nurses told us that those little hairs will fall out, and they are.  In patches. 

Odd.


Riley's friend James came to visit. It was good to visit with him.  It is wonderful to have friends talk about regular stuff.

A few other friends stopped by and Riley had a good time.  Then he pointed out that several times during their conversation, he had forgotten what he was saying.  Even what the topic was about.  Odd.  We mentioned it to the nurse and she let the night resident know.  In the mean time Riley's pizza arrived.  The marinol had done its job and Riley was not only feeling better, but he was hungry!!  First time in 2 days!  Just as he had a few bites of pizza, the resident came in asking about the forgetfulness.  He did a few neuro tests on Riley and then said," just to be safe, don't eat any more... in case we have to do a few tests".  He explained that the symptoms could be from his new medication or from bleeding on the brain.  WHAT??  He left to go call the attending and we were left in a little shock.  Riley's nurse tried her very best to explain that it totally was his medication.  She explained that sometimes residents are a little lacking in their bedside manner.  The resident seemed like a really nice guy, but ... REALLY!?  Not long after, he reappeared with our pizza in hand, apologizing profusly.  He had spoken with the attending who knew without even looking at Riley that it was for sure his medication.  Even still... this rattled Riley.  Me too.

Labs today:
White blood cells: 0.5 (normal 4.5 - 13.5)
Red Blood cells: 7.4 (normal 13.5 - 17.5) - 2 units transfused
Platelets: 31 (normal 150 - 425)
ANC: 10 ( < 500 = severely neutropenic)