Training for a 5K

My knee is finally better! I've walked 16 laps around the floor today, which is a vast improvement over any day this week when the most laps I did was three total. I've also kicked the walker to the curb and am able to just hang on to my IV pole. I keep joking with the staff that I'm training for a 5k.

My morning was a little trying. Since I had the fevers a couple of times yesterday, I had sweated a lot in my bed and I smelled funky. But to take a shower, the nurse has to unhook me from the IV pole and wrap my PICC in plastic (press-n-seal saran wrap works best from what I hear). Unfortunately, my PICC line had done some funky twist in my chest and they weren't able to use it until it got fixed so I got stuck with an IV yesterday. Because the PICC line was compromised, I spent the morning waiting for the IV team to come by to fix it. After "power flushing" my line with a bunch of heparin, they realized it would just have to come out and be replaced. Not a bad process, but not fun either. I managed to get through it without any sedative. It's not painful (the numbing part hurts more). After they re-did the PICC (from my hospital bed, BTW) I had to wait to be transported for a chest x-ray to make sure they fixed it. After a while, I finally got down to the x-ray area and waited for the actual x-ray. By the time I got back upstairs to my room, it was nearly 11am.

I was still waiting for my shower. I had asked the nurse much earlier that morning if she could get me ready for the shower. A tech came in and wrapped up my PICC, but she wasn't allowed to unhook the IV so we had to wait for the nurse. I had my saran-wrap arm wrapped for two hours by then and was eager to get my shower. I knew the chemo was supposed to start at noon so I had a very small window to get my shower in, but I knew I could do it. Unfortunately, the nurse didn't come into my room until 11:50 so she started the chemo and I waited another hour. The good news was that my PICC was fixed so they could use it again (which means tomorrow morning's blood draw should be a LOT easier). I finished that chemo and they had to flush the line and do some other things, but I finally got unhooked from the IV and into the SHOWER!! Hallelujah! The angels sang and the stench lifted! Since I still have my hair for now it felt great to wash it.

I just did the math on my baldness (typically +16 days after chemo), I should be bald by Halloween. Paint me orange and put a tiny green "stem" hat on me and call me the Great Pumpkin! I could have some fun with this. :)