My Seventh Chemo Costume: Doctor Who

Who else is super stoked for the Doctor Who series eight premiere? I am!!

In honor of one of my favorite doctors, I dressed up in my gender flipped Fourth Doctor costume and my sister, Christine dressed up as the Tenth Doctor.

But first, a quick note about yesterday's chemo treatment.

Christine and I spent eight hours at the infusion center yesterday. Normally an infusion only takes three to three-and-a-half hours. So why the extra time? Sadly, a TARDIS was not involved.

My oncologist called me on Wednesday to tell me that my Tuesday lab work was a bit alarming. 

Normal hemoglobin range balances between 12.0-16.0 g/dL, and anything below 9.0 or 8.0 is worrisome. You know hemoglobin, that important molecule in red blood cells that transports oxygen from lungs to body. My tests results came back at 7.7 g/dL. Yowzah! A lot of my other counts were down, too, including my red blood cell count. These low results made sense. As I mentioned in my posts about fatigue and my insane menstrual cycle, the past two weeks following treatment #6 I struggled to get out of bed for several days, and the days I could get out of bed I felt extremely weak.


The solution: a red blood cell transfusion.

Christine and I arrived at the infusion center on Thursday at 8:00 a.m. and by 8:30 a.m. precious blood cells began transfusing into my veins. It kind of weirded me out and unfortunately the anti-nausea/anti-anxiety med I took prior to my visit did not prevent me from regurgitating the mini donut I had for breakfast. Hello mini donut!

Four hours and two units of blood later, the pre-med and chemo infusion process began. No delaying chemo this time, which is just as well because I look forward to when this whole cancer ordeal is over.

Transfusion Snoozin'

I was extremely exhausted—mostly from having gotten very little and very poor quality sleep the night before—and slept the majority of the eight hours. However, I'm glad to report that the transfusion has worked wonders! I feel great compared to the aftermath of treatment #6. After chemo #6 I could barely move, barely stay awake, barely talk, barely eat. Chemo #7 has been a 150 degree improvement (the other 30 degrees are dedicated to some lingering nausea and tiredness). My appetite has increased and I stayed awake nearly all day Friday. Fantastic! 

There we are at the end of the day. We finally left the infusion center around 4:00 pm.

That is a 20½ foot-long Season 16/17/Shada Scarf replica, by the way (21 feet even with tassels). I crocheted it back in September/October for my 2013 Halloween costume.

Well, that's all.

Must Dash!

Doctor Who Scarf Patterns: http://www.doctorwhoscarf.com