Winter Cabbage

Not many ornamental plants are alive at this time of the year.

A scary 45 minutes at plasmapheresis occurred when the machine was returning my red blood cells. My blood is mixed with an anti-coagulant which binds calcium and in some people can cause dangerous low blood calcium levels. As the machine sped up, my entire body became very tingly and my chest tightened. I advised the nurse, who slowed the machine down (there were too many red blood cells to waste - so I still needed the blood in the line), and got me a calcium supplement. I have been doing this for 6 months, so we were astonished to have this occur. Later, I remembered that my rheumatologist had recently cut my calcium supplement dose by 2/3. Perhaps we should have spoken to my plasmapheresis doctor first. Crisis averted and not to be repeated, thank goodness.