Today I had a follow up visit with the dermatologist and another nurse visit. The dermatologist appointment went great! He was so pleased to see how well my rashes look and said to continue the meds through next Tuesday and then I should be good to go! My arm looks awesome and my neck still is a bit pink but not nearly as noticable. Yay!
My nurse visit was a quick one today as it was just a blood draw to check my levels again. My OB wanted to see how my levels are doing now that I have been on the potassium for three days. The good news is that my potassium is up from 3.1 to 3.7 (has to be 3.5 or higher to be normal) which is great. I was really hoping that she would say I would be done with the potassium but the OB wants me to stay on it a bit longer. She said it is great that my levels are back up in normal range but I need to remember that I am getting potassium intraveneously twice a day so we need to see if my body can maintain the level without the extra help. I was getting 20 mil equivalents in each iv bag and now they have cut the dosage to 10 mil equivalents. I will do that through the weekend and will have more blood work on Monday to see how the levels are then. I was really hopeful that I wouldn't have to continue running the bags for four hours but it looks like I will need to for a few days longer at least. I'm crossing my fingers that my potassium stays up and on Monday I will get the all clear to just got back to my regular fluids which I can run faster.
In other level updates, my sodium stayed the same which is still low at 134. We will keep watching that. My glucose (blood sugar) is also all messed up but the doctor warned me this could happen. Apparently the prednisone that I am on causes glucose intolerance which leads to high blood sugar. I have actually been having the opposite problem and my glucose has been on the low side always in the 60s but today it was 108! Yikes! Normal is 70-100 but nothing to worry about since we know it is med induced. Its no wonder I don't feel great though- gosh my body just is going through a lot I think! My last day of the prednisone is Monday so then hopefully things should go back to normal.
I mentioned to my nurse that the potassium IVs burn when going in and she said that was normal and why we have to run the bags so slow. Apparently when given in a regular IV they often have to add a numbing medicine because it can get so painful but then you have to be on a cardiac monitor. I can deal with the burning but it is just a bit uncomfortable. SO I just need to get through this weekend and finish up my meds early next week and hopefully I will get to start weaning off fluids. I will see the nurse again Monday and the OB Tuesday. Updates then. :)
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