I'm feeling better today, but my white counts are still low. I will probably be here until Wednesday at the earliest so they can keep an eye on me. Whenever I leave the room I have to wear a mask and these purple surgical gloves. My mom commented that I looked like Miss Piggy. All I needed were the pearls!
They've been pumping me with so much saline (1 liter every 4 hours) that I was up every hour to hit the restroom. Mike stayed with me last night so I probably woke him up whenever I dragged my IV unit in with me. My nurse also came in every two hours to check on me, including at 4am to draw blood - not fun. I was still able to get some sleep, but it was difficult. My bed here is not as nice as Fairfax Hospital: my bed there automatically repositioned itself every few minutes to eliminate bed sores and here I have a standard hospital bed.
After one trip to the restroom, I came back into my room to see my entire team of doctors and nurses (at least 12 people) waiting to talk to me. I call them the "Irish Team" because a lot of them are Irish (and I adore their accents!). They came to check on me and to let me know that I'll be here for a few days. I have some funky rash on my neck, which they think might be an allergic reaction to surgical tape, but they have to fully investigate. I had a room full of people checking me out and examining me - it's a good thing I've gotten over any shyness I might have had!
My morning nurse, Amy, was shocked to learn that I'm Jan Erickson's daughter. They used to work together and she knows Mom well. There are a lot of nurses and other staff here at NIH who know Mom so I get treated a little bit like a rock star whenever I mention her name. Of course, I have to be careful what I say about Mom too! Both Mom and Dad are stopping by this afternoon to see me.
I finished watching disc 1 of "North and South" and I'll watch the other disc soon since I have no place to go and plenty of time on my hands. Visitors are welcome, but anyone with a cold has to stay away. With my current neutropenic status, I encourage everyone to wait and see me when I get home. I also can't have any outside food either. I'll get better and be home soon - I promise.
7 comments:
Angela
Came in today to start helping with proposals. I asked Pete where is Angela and to my surprise he told me that you were at the hospital. I had no idea, no one informed me earlier.
Angela, with your courage and optimism, I know that you are going to get well very soon. I wish you a quick recovery and hopefully I will see you soon here at the office because I miss working and chatting with you.
Wish you all the best
Sincerely
Nesrine
Angela
Came in today to start helping with proposals. I asked Pete where is Angela and to my surprise he told me that you were at the hospital. I had no idea, no one informed me earlier.
Angela, with your courage and optimism, I know that you are going to get well very soon. I wish you a quick recovery and hopefully I will see you soon here at the office because I miss working and chatting with you.
Wish you all the best
Sincerely
Nesrine
Mike and Angela,
Have some things to give to you guys, I hope you get home soon so I can bring them over!
I asked my "quack" doctor for some recommendations, and if your doctors say that it won't interfere or react with your chemo meds, Astragalus has been shown to not only boost the immune system, but to help fight the spread of the cancer. "Research conducted by the University of Texas found that an extract of Astragalus helped to restore immune functioning in cancer patients with compromised immune systems."
Best wishes, as always!
Becky
Oh I hate hate HATE IV's. I can take shots with no problem. I can take surgery. I can take doctors--even the woefully bedside-manner-deficient ones we have here. But those IV's--absolutely loathe them.
Glad to hear you are feeling better AND that you can get yourself to the bathroom. "Avoid bedpans at all costs" is a good rule to live by.
It is now obscenely early in the morning, have done the crowded party part of the Independence Day celebrations (really disappointing dancing--bummer) and have to rest up for the carnivore part. Hope you next post involves you going home!
Gila
hey girlfriend!
Update on the Cancer Punchout Campaign! I'm up to 8.5 people! The .5 is because it was a technical knockout as i kept hitting this clown and he kept coming back up... it turns out the sand in the bottom of the ballon acts as the counter-balance, so i took it as a moral victory.
Rest up and enjoy your DVD's and you pearls! (don't mothers say the worst thing at the worst possible time?)
Who knew that the two of you would actually come to have a preference for hospital beds! Woo woo!!
Every day when my bus goes through NIH I wave to you, although I'm sure you don't see me waving. *sigh* Maybe I'll just have to wave bigger. Or not - they have armed guards, you know, who don't seem to have a sense of humor.
Love ya and can't wait to stop by to see you again!
Hi Roommates :-)
Mike you can not change the design of the blog while I'm reading, it's making me "wuchisch" (don't ask me to translate). Anyway it looks really good.
Angela, glad to hear you are feeling better.
Riley, Shellbee, Frank and I hope to see you both very soon home.
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