Tuesday, December 30, 2008

"the blood is the life!"

Blood.  The Elixir of Life.  Always moving, it carries oxygen through our veins, flows out in menses, brings color to our cheeks, makes sex enjoyable, keeps us warm, and is always red, never blue.  I will never, ever again take it for granted.

I understand now, the Vampire's need.  For I have sucked another's blood and have found it to be to my liking.

The Christians drink, symbolically anyway, the blood of Christ.  Catholics take it a little further. I have often wondered about this paradoxically shared love of blood among seeming opponents. Perhaps Vampires and Christians are really not that different after all. 

I have just spent three nights in a hospital bed.  I found myself there after I finally realized on the day after Christmas that the way I had been feeling for the past couple of days was definitely not normal, even for a chemotherapy patient.  Unable to stand in the shower for any length of time, with chills that wouldn't end, and an inability to accomplish even simple tasks, I finally checked my temp. (102.9 at its highest) and called the doctor.  

Which landed me in the hospital for three nights, due to having next to zero white blood cells, and a dangerously low red blood count.  There I lay, hooked up to IV antibiotics, watching Gremlins and Westside Story and other great classics on the AMC, playing Quiddler, and finishing a fantastic novel.

On the third day, they gave me two blood transfusions.  I immediately felt like a new person, with a new life. Only slightly more blood-thirsty.  

So if you see me on some dark night, staring at you rather hungrily, please take precautions.  

Consider yourself warned.



(Title quote from Bram Stoker's Dracula)

7 comments:

John said...

Awesome story Sue. I'm glad you're feeling better.

Klayton said...

Fucking hell! I would have visited, but I was stuck up in Divide.... So, you're home again?

Friar Tuck said...

Glad you are feeling better.

Anonymous said...

The difference being that the blood that nourished you was willingly given.

Glad you are feeling more vital.

Anonymous said...

Isn't chemo the craziest kind of treatment? Now that you have enough 'good' blood, they can blast it to pieces again. Build it up; break it down. May you hold on to enough white cells to keep you well through the winter. Hugs, Beth

Anonymous said...

shit, so sorry you went through that Sue. I know you and John were looking forward to time together, too bad it was in a hospital. Glad you are doing better though, and that there is something they can do for you if this happens again!

Anonymous said...

Sorry that you went through this, yuck. I had similar, grim and dark thoughts following my blood transfusion a few years ago. Very Stephen King-esque.