Went to the hospital yesterday for my next lot of Abatacept. All went swimmingly, I had my bloods done and I was off home again. I felt a bit tired and fuzzy headed but thats how I feel most times, I think its as a result of having so much fluid pumped through my body at such a quick rate.
Anyway, when I got home I went out into town with my boyfriend and did a bit of shopping when suddenly I get this phonecall from Mum. She rang to tell me that she had the doctor that Id seen in the morning who put my canula in etc, on the other phone and that there was a problem with my bloods. Well this is something that I havent heard in a long time! My bloods have been fine for ages so to get a phonecall then I knew something must be up.
It turns out that my haemaglobin (excuse my spelling) was quite low which meant that Im slightly anemic but this wasnt the main concern. My neutrophil count was also extremely low coming in at 0.89. Apparently a minimum normal reading for this is 2 and I normally come in at around 7 so for it to be this low means that there is something going on.
I got all of the usual questions: "Have you bee feeling okay recently?" "Any coughs or colds?" etc etc and my answer to everything has been no! Ive felt fine! Ive felt a bit hot every now and then and been a bit tired but Ive put that down to because Ive been feeling so well Ive been doing a lot of moving around and activity, going out with friends and Ive been at work everyday. My saving grace was that the doctor agreed that I looked okay and quite well on the morning so it meant that no immediate action had to be taken however Im under very close observation at the moment.
The consensus of opinion is that I am just about to come down with some sort of illness. Ive been in contact with people recently who've had colds and flu and even one person who has had shingles, so it looks as though I may have picked up a virus of some sort. So now if my temperature rises above 37 degrees at all then I have to head straight down to A & E and if I feel at all unwell then I have to get an appointment at the doctors straightaway. Im not allowed to take my methotrexate this week (something which I was rather happy about!) and Ive got to really look after myself.
Mum and Dad have ofcourse gone into panic over-drive. I have to go back to the hospital on Tuesday to have all of my bloods done again and have another good check over and until then, I have to make sure I go to bed at a reasonable hour, have good proper meals at tea time and make sure I chill and look after myself. I wasnt really happy with the arrangement at first but if its gonna stop me from coming down with something before I go away on holiday then Im happy to go along with it.
So I feel a bit on edge at the moment just waiting for something to possibly happen. My immune system is already really really low but now that I have the abatacept inside me, its as if I dont have an immune system at all. Apparently, if they had waited to see what my blood results were yesterday before giving me my abatacept, then I wouldnt have been allowed to have my infusion. Its weird thinking how much I depend on everyone elses immune systems, hoping that other people dont get colds and illnesses just so that I can stay well.
Im happy with the way the doctor responded though. She rang as soon as the bloods came back and already had an action plan in place which proved to me that she had done her research and really looked into my illness and has a good understanding of my medicines. Its definitely restored my trust in the NHS! Well a bit anyway..
Hope everyone is feeling okay and not on the verge of coming down with something!!x
Just got to keep going.....
Recently diagnosed ~ but no progress is the pain in my mind
Doh
hi guys not posted for months a question though
Abatacept week 5 feeling awful in a flare
