I'm out of jail!!

Hope never abandons you, you abandon it.  ~George Weinberg

Yup, I’m out of jail!  And OOOOEEEEE, it is so good to be home!  It was a rough weekend, although the nurses/staff at the hospital were really wonderful and took very good care of me.  They all seem to love their jobs.  But if you need some rest, don’t go to the hospital.  I got a lot less sleep last night than the night before!  I didn’t think that was possible.  The problem was that they didn’t start the blood transfusion until after 2200, and it took all night.  So they came into my room EIGHT – yes, EIGHT – times between 2200 and 0600.  Maybe there were even more and I slept through one or two.  Is it possible?  They had to check my vitals, change an IV bag, check this or check that…..I don’t even know what they were doing half the time.  But I do know that they woke me up 8 times!  When the nurse was leaving at 2245 after checking my vitals, she said in her sweet, sing-songsy voice, “You can get a good 2 to 2½ hours of sleep before I have to come in again!”  as if to imply (1) that I would close my eyes and be instantly asleep (does that happen to anybody?!) and (2) that I would be so excited about 2 hours of uninterrupted sleep!!  PULEEEEEZ!  How about 8 hours??  What happened to that concept? 

Anyway, I survived the night, which culminated in a visit by the oncologist at 0600, who asked how I was doing?  Even at 0600, after not sleeping all night, I said, “I’m doing great!  I’m ready to go home now!”  He sort of laughed (not really) – he doesn’t have a lot of personality – and said, “Not so soon.”  He said it depends on the numbers, to which I replied, “You mean a few little numbers are going to keep me trapped in here?”  During our 3-minute visit, I heard 3 various possibilities – not for awhile, maybe tonight, maybe tomorrow.  I was sure to blurt out “tonight” several times as he was heading for the door. 

So I was anxiously awaiting “the numbers.”  The nurse finally came in around 1000 and said things were improving.  I can’t remember any of the numbers she told me except the white blood count, which I knew was the “big one.”  Yesterday it was 0.5 and this morning it was 2.3.  YESSSS!!  That’s still pretty low, but it’s a real hike up the pike from 0.5!  Grounds for discharge in my book!  The nurse then informed me that they usually won’t discharge until it’s at least 3.  Brought me down off the clouds again.  She said she had to call the oncologist later to give him “the numbers.”  I BEGGED her to BEG him to let me out.  Gave her a sob story about how my husband had to take the RV to the shop Monday morning, and nobody could pick me up tomorrow, so tonight would be much more convenient.  How silly!  They don’t care about that stuff.  It’s the NUMBERS that count.  Anyway, she was a really nice nurse, and I really liked her, and I think she liked me.  She also agreed with me when I said I shouldn’t be in such a germ-infested place in such a compromised state.  I felt like she would go to bat for me….if she had the guts to BEG the doctor on my behalf.  I doubt she ended up begging, and I have no idea what she said to him, but she came back to my room around 1400 and said that he said I could go home tonight!  I wanted to jump up and hug her – I might have if I didn’t have a big huge IV pole with 100 bags of whatever hanging off it.  I thanked her profusely, though.  She said he said no at first and then asked what my stool cultures and blood cultures were – negative!  So then he relented and said I could go tonight. 

Well, it got even better.  She came back in around 1445 and said I could go now!  Yeehaw!!  She said she would disconnect the IV, get my discharge papers together, and another nurse would come in to de-access my port.  And then I was a free bird! 

Kenny came back and picked me up – he had actually been there earlier, but I told him there was no sense in sticking around because I actually had some transcription that I had to do.  So he left, and I called about an hour later with the good news.  So I didn’t get much work done, but I did do some – I have a picture to prove it (see below).  You can see my head phones and lap top but not the foot pedal (trust me, it’s there).  And you can see the big ol’ IV pole right next to me, dripping as I was typing. 

Guess that about sums up today and now it’s time to get some REAL sleep!  Life is getting better all the time.  And I feel really good once again, which is such a wonderful feeling!  Thank you all ever so much for all those positive, loving thoughts and feelings and prayers.  I appreciate all the support and concern, all the wonderful blog comments, emails, phone calls, cards – and just all of you being out there thinking of me, WISHING ME WELL!  It’s working!    Good night, all!