Sunday, May 10, 2009

This is a really boring post


I get a sneak preview of what's in for me in about a month. I'm in the hospital at MDA through Tuesday. But instead of putting me in a pre-transplant area, they put me in the post-transplant area because they have to pay more attention to me. With my one kidney, they have to really hydrate me or the chemo will mess with it. 

I'm on a chemo drip. Get one chemo for twelve hours then switch to another and it keeps repeating until Tuesday. As you can probably tell, my brain is scrambled a bit. The pain in my gut has not been a big problem. In the morning when there's no food in it, it gets nauseous. And I get typical random pains but that's about it. So far I feel sick, tired and have the usual chemo-induced pains. But no puking. 

The point of giving me chemo now is to drill my system down so stem cells could start harvesting. But the docs did tell me that it will, hopefully, also kill some more of the remaining cancer cells. I'm supposed to be in the hospital for five days and then wait for two weeks. During that time, I'll have to give myself a shot to help get those stem cells a-harvestin'. 

The staff make you take walks around the unit with your IV pole every couple of hours. They said you should name the IV pole. I named it Nala after my dog because my wife doesn't like the dog. She doesn't even like people being nice to the dog. She doesn't like talking about the dog. So I thought, "What better way to get under my wife's skin?" Every two hours I can say that I have to take Nala for a walk again. The other Nala is back at home. She chewed off the starter nob on our grill. Twice. Growled something about not wanting us to grill so much and instead eat healthier foods.

Along with walking, I go to the bathroom. Alot. As in every two hours. And it's a bit of a big deal because I have to take Nala with me. Also, I rinse with salt water every two hours and blow into a tube to get my lungs active. That's my day. Can't think of anything fun and creative because it takes work to get your brain moving. While I was in college, some friends of mine bought a car for $25. Really. As you can imagine, they had all kinds of problems with it. One of them was starting. My brain is like that car. Doesn't want to start. 

Enclosed is a picture of what I have to wear if I go out of my room. Any visitors, including docs and nurses have to wear that in my room. Can't get germs. I wish they had it in pink. 


3 comments:

  1. You look like an anesthesiologist or some sort of doctor in that get up.

    "Dr. Babar ... is that one b or two?"
    "Mooooooooooon River!"
    "You using the whole fist there doc?"

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  2. Fletch: Where am I?
    Nurse: You're in the records room. Can I get you something?
    Fletch: Yeah, do you have the Beatles' White Album? Never mind, just get me a glass of hot fat. And bring me the head of Alfredo Garcia.

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  3. "Can I borrow your towel? My car just hit a water buffalo..."

    The naming IV poles is an interesting custom. My daughter named her IV pole "Min-No-Na" when she had her appendix out at age 3

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