Day +2: Life in the Hospital

 Time sees to float in a hospital. And not in a wispy-warm-summer-cloud-like way, but in a sailboat-on-open-seas-on-a-windless-day kind of way. You feel adrift - unanchored to the shores and responsibilities of daily life. Maybe that's why the care team writes the day and date on the little white board in my room. It's a tenuous grasp on the life that's happening outside. But here on the inside, we float on, with hope that the wind is at our back and pushing us to shore.

It's not that there isn't a schedule; hospitals are very much about schedules. Those may change from day-to-day or be modified by scheduled procedures or things like, oh, getting brand new stem cells,  but since my chemo infusion stopped, we've settled into a regular routine - and routines themselves are the backbone of a hospital stay.

Vitals, Drugs, and Round, Oh My

The main components are vitals, drugs and rounds. Over the next 1-2 weeks, my blood counts will bottom out as the full effects of the chemo take hold. So that may cause some change in the routine, as I'll likely need platelet and red blood cell transfusions, and will have less energy to do lengthy blog posts. But here's what a typical boring morning looks like for me. And I say boring in the most grateful way possible;  boring in a hospital is a good thing!  

0500 - 0600 Wake up from deep sleep. Scramble to find my mask before nurse makes it into the room. It's her/his last visit before the morning shift and she's here to check in and administer morning pills. Take my pills and stay awake because...

0600 Knock knock. Hi I'm here to take your vitals.  Every four hours without fail, the patient care assistant (PCA), aka nurses's aid, shows up to take my blood pressure, oxygen, heart rate, and temperature. She leaves. Mask off. Back to sleep before....

0730 - Knock Knock. Scramble for mask. New day shift nurse comes in, checks in and administers any pills that weren't ready to be given earlier. Does a quick listen of lungs, stomach. Departs. Debate for 30 or so minutes if I should leave my bed for the comfort of my chair. Decide to order some breakfast, in anticipation of being hungry in 45-60 minutes, because...

0830 - It takes that long for meals to make it up to rooms. Mmm, what passes for edible this morning - whole wheat blueberry pancakes and sausage pucks. Meh. But the banana and orange juice hit the spot. Either way, gotta get food in me. Food, sleep and exercise are important for recovery. A point that's reinforced by...

0930 - the attending physician during her rounds. She's accompanied by two physician assistants (PAs) during their morning visit. Today we talk about New Yorker versus New York Times crossword puzzles. And a little bit about my health too. I receive and A+ for my recovery. That seems to put a lot of pressure on me to maintain the grade, but still nice to be teacher's pet instead of class clown. Hmm, maybe I should get on the bike, but first, I should wait for... 

1000 Hello. I'm here to do your vitals. Sure c'mon in. I was just going to take a ...

1030  Quick spin on the vintage exercise bike in my room. Nothing too strenuous or anything that would work up a sweat and require...

1100 a shower. I call the nurse's station and my RN comes in to cover up my port for one of the highlights of my day, a nice hot shower. Aahhh, feels good but once dry I have to remember to also do the anti-bacterial wipe down, with these special warm wipes. Weird at first, but you get used to it. I'd like to say, just like hospital food, but I don't think I could ever get used to hospital food, especially when battling nausea - which is why there is a special menu for oncology patients that has a lot of calorie-dense food including protein shakes. It does the job but not the same as either home cooked or take out food, but still I have to...

1200 order lunch. Feeling bold, I thought I'd try for something off the fancy oncology menu - but the first three items I ask for are all out of stock. I resort to the one item on the menu that it's hard to screw up - a salad with grilled chicken, and...

1300 when it arrives, is actually pretty damn good. A great sign that my nausea is abating a bit. 

Antibiotic Challenges and Quiet Afternoons

The afternoon is a bit quieter. There are still the 4-hour vitals check, more meds and evening rounds from the PA, but usually more time to read, write, or watch whatever the sport du jour is. As I write this, I'm just waiting for the 11:00 pm vital check before I go to bed. If you're doing the math, you know that it should have been a 10 pm vitals visit, but we had a little schedule divergence today. I participated in a two-hour drug allergy challenge. I'm not sure that's the right name for it, but it was a chance to ensure I wasn't allergic to a particular class of antibiotic that I might have been allergic to. It's a lot of observation with the nurse in the room as they gradually up the dose. Good news: No allergic reaction and so that class of antibiotics is now safe for me. But it threw off the vitals schedule. 

And that, my friends, is what passes for excitement here in 4C-56 at 75 Francis Street. Look forward to be drifting back into the real world in a few weeks.