Wednesday - June 6, 2007

My new antifungal medication was added two days ago since I still have a fever of unknown origin - the doctors told me that this drug would cause bizarre side effects.

Never before in my life has a medication prescribed by a doctor resulted in hallucinations where I am in a horror movie with every villan from every slasher movie. The images are incredibly vivid and flash at high speeds. They are accompanied by lightning bolts on the underside of my eyelids. When I turn on the lights and open my eyes I see the room in different colors. The doctor said I would see little green men - so far I haven't seen them. They would be a lot cuter than what I have encountered.

At this point, the doctors are calling my fever of unknown origin a neutropenic fever which can result from having no immune system. Their decision is not conclusive because they keep looking for a reason for the fever. I was told that they may not find a reason and that the fevers may ultimately resolve themselves as my immune system kicks back in again.

For the past three days I have had the most wonderful nurse on the day shift - her name is Nicole. She has been involved with the HiCy Program and with the IPOP follow-up clinic for four years. So her words of wisdom and incredible knowledge of the subject are so comforting at this time.

On a lighter note, while Joanne and Nicole were in the room with me today, I got an interesting phone call on the hospital line. The man was looking for his friend Bernard Oxman and I told him that he had the wrong room. He kept insisting that he dialed the right number and that Bernard was in the room. I suggested that he call the hospital operator to get the correct number but he kept saying that he knew he had Bernard's room. I told him that I was sure that after 4 days of being in this very small hospital room -that Bernard was not here. The three of us had a really good laugh over it. A nice way to break up the intensity of the day.