Today didn't go so well. I went to the IV treatment place this morning to get my 3rd IV iron. When I got there the nurse told me that my insurance wanted me to get a different (brand) of IV iron. I figured, it's just iron, what can the difference possibly be? After about 45 minutes my body suddenly reacted negatively. I had an allergic reaction to the different iron treatment - just my luck. One minute I was fine, the next minute I was shaking, throwing up, having hot flashes, feeling light headed and my heat raced. Of course it scared the crap out of the nurses (me too) and they took me off the IV immediately and started giving me medicine to reverse the allergic reaction. They also had to give me a shot so I would stop throwing up. Needless to say, instead of being there 2.5 hours, I was there about 8 just trying to recover. I was finally OK enough to drive myself home around 5:30. I still need the iron so now the stupid insurance won't have an excuse to not let me have what I've always had in the past. Stupid insurance. I also missed my dentist appointment with the oral surgeon :( Not that I'm looking forward to that, but I really need to get my wisdom teeth taken out. I'm better now. I feel strange from the side-effects of the drugs they gave me to reverse the allergic reaction... kind of like still being a little drunk on the morning after a big part night.

Friday I have to get another IV iron treatment. My body is depleted of iron again because of all the blood-making that happened to make me not anemic anymore. So, in a way it's a good thing, because I'm no longer anemic. Now I've just got to get the iron stores back up so I will continue to do good.

My blood pressure has been on again off again REALLY HIGH for the last few weeks. Last Friday my BP was 150/90. Whenever a day comes along that my BP is high I can really tell. Its a strange feeling, really - I feel as though I can't think straight and that my head is heavy. Usually I also have a headache that feels like a stress headache. Today has been one of those days. I feel like my brain is full of oatmeal. I'm going to the doctor again on Friday and I'm thinking he will up my dose of Cozaar. The last time I mentioned it to him he told me that whenever I feel like this to just take an extra dose of Cozaar for the day. But the problem is, I feel this way more often than not. When I take the extra Cozaar it brings my BP waaaaay down (to like 105/58) but I feel much better and I can function. So far I've not gotten lightheaded from a very low BP. All of this is as a result of the Procrit shots. Whenever I get a shot about 48 - 72 hours later my body kicks into gear and starts mass producing red blood cells. This increases my blood volume bringing my BP up higher. Since I'm still doing the shot every week - at the high dose - my body is 'super charged' with red blood cells. All-in-all I honestly feel better than I have in 4 years. If getting this shot has solved the anemia problem and I *feel* better then I can certainly handle either higher BPs a few days a week and/or taking a larger dose of Cozaar. It's a good trade :)