I went to the hospital this morning for my blood tests. After the nurse had taken my blood I mentioned that I had a small rash and wondered if it was caused by low platelet count (can cause bruising and petechia - little red dots on the skin). The doctor came and had a look at it and after consulting with a dermatology colleague decided it was a side-effect of the last lot of chemo and prescribed some steroid cream. Job done I thought.
When my blood results came back the doctor decided to order some platelets for me because my anti-thrombin levels were low (she also gave me Kybernin). About 10 minutes after the platelet infusion started I had an itchy shoulder and then an itchy stomach. I alerted the staff, they stopped the platelets and gave me intravenous hydrocortisone and piriton. By then, 10 minutes after the itching had started, the rash was spreading really quickly - stomach, back, forearms, thighs and _so_ itchy that I had to sit on my hands to stop myself scratching. It is apparently a form of hives that you can get as a reaction to blood products - I shall always be very sympathetic in future to people who have hives!
The rash took about 2 hours to go away during which time I had had a couple of piriton-induced sleeps! And, having arrived at hospital at 09:30 I finally escaped at just before 5pm. So much for Monday. I thought it was ironic that I had been concerned about the small rash (which is still present) and then got a reaction that produced a rash 10 times as bad!
No comments:
Post a Comment