For the adventurous tasters among you, my recommendation would be to avoid liquid potassium. The liquid form is safer/easier than the tablets. You might be familiar with KCl as a salt substitute. In very small quantities sprinkled on food it might be acceptable for those who just can’t live without the taste of pool chlorine. For the rest of us, slimy and nasty are the mildest descriptors I am willing to use in polite company. Even diluted with water from the concentrated witches brew sent from the pharmacy it in no way resembles any of your power drinks or electrolyte replacements. Orange in color, at least it doesn’t fluoresce in the dark. The taste would be markedly improved by a slug of glucose syrup. With the number of diabetics around here, I am not going to even make the suggestion.

Then there is magnesium which can be administered by IV but also can be taken by mouth. Shall we add boosting my calcium? That one I think is actually a long term issue, not precipitated by the immunotherapy but from the changes in which formulation is available through the pharmacy. Getting refills mailed without charge is wonderful, just don’t ever lose any pills/tables/capsules. None of this as to do with the normal saline running as a base solution. I think I am going to be extremely well chlorinated.

My immune therapy didn’t start till 1945 last night. My blood chemistries went out of whack within the first few hours. So as a result imagine me, having lovely conversations with the nursing staff hourly through most of the night with pills, liquids and IV bags being changed out on a regular basis. I’m personally hoping for the extra chlorine to help keep away any infection potential. I don’t think it will help with zombies, ghouls or other creatures of the night.

The only reaction I had from the chemo was fever and chills this morning, and hopefully only this morning. (see comment above). The great thing about having a line, rather than a regular IV is that bloods can be drawn without my getting stuck with a needle. There are also fun participatory conversations along the line of “when you get bored hanging bags of calcium you just might want to ask the docs to order a Vit D level. Perhaps we can stop the problem that way and not have to play repeat tomorrow night since I will still be having certain blood chemistries on a q6 and others on a q8 schedule (again, see note about line above which avoids needle sticks).

Early afternoon I thought I was waiting out the rest of the day in anticipation of negative cultures, no further reactions and a ride home tomorrow. Instead, it probably will be 24 hours of antibiotics (the first dose doesn’t go up till 2100) and an escape from this room on Saturday. Still, I am overall in a better mood today than I was yesterday. I didn’t stick the landing (fever) but it looks like I just might have had a recognized reaction rather than anything terribly serious.