Day -1 : Getting serious
It's the day before I get my transplant. I've been here at the hospital in my own room since a bit before 8 o'clock this morning. Everyone (even me) is hugely cheerful and there have been the usual electronic forms to sign, meds to be gone over (what gets taken when and why) and nagging at various levels of severity about what I have to do (exercise, munch on ice) and not do (overdo it). The lunch from the hospital kitchen was debatably the best omelette I've had in ages and the yogurt parfait was pretty good, too. Susan has bought me a pack of chocolate chip cookies - not sure how long I am supposed to make them last but they'll be lucky to make it until they kick me out at about 1:30.
I've had my dose of really evil chemo as well as 5 pills to discourage me from barfing so I the only reason I am here is that I have to have the chemo washed into my veins by half a litre of saline. There's about 100 ml to go - I have about the same amount of ice. Something tells me I am going to be peeing a lot this afternoon and I have to keep track of it (just the number of times, not the volume). Once we leave here, I have to wear a mask (you can call me Darth) and blue plastic gloves until we get back to SECU House.
I was, to be polite, distracted yesterday and managed to pack virtually nothing that I will need next week. This is my subliminal way of ensuring that Susan comes to visit. The only pyjama pants I have are my new Arctic-weight ones, I have no pyjama top or hankies (not planning to get a cold) so, as my own butler, I'm fired. At least I packed some decent movies, as did Susan, and ripped some good music onto my hard drive - listening to the Stones' "Blue & Lonesome" CD now and it's a hell of a lot better than most of their pop stuff though Mick has relied pretty heavily on the echo machine (I wonder if he used one of those old ones with the little tape loop).
All done and back at SECU House. Everything went smoothly and the guy who looked after us - I can't give his name but it was the same as the guy with the steam engines and tuna in Paturoa Road - was absolutely brilliant both professionally and personally. Must take a photo of my room tomorrow. When I get admitted I will probably get upgrade to a room with a view (of I40, mostly, but it's somewhat entertaining for a while. I'll also have a great view of the snow covered Winston-Salem suburbs if the temperature would care to drop 30 degrees.
I've had my dose of really evil chemo as well as 5 pills to discourage me from barfing so I the only reason I am here is that I have to have the chemo washed into my veins by half a litre of saline. There's about 100 ml to go - I have about the same amount of ice. Something tells me I am going to be peeing a lot this afternoon and I have to keep track of it (just the number of times, not the volume). Once we leave here, I have to wear a mask (you can call me Darth) and blue plastic gloves until we get back to SECU House.
I was, to be polite, distracted yesterday and managed to pack virtually nothing that I will need next week. This is my subliminal way of ensuring that Susan comes to visit. The only pyjama pants I have are my new Arctic-weight ones, I have no pyjama top or hankies (not planning to get a cold) so, as my own butler, I'm fired. At least I packed some decent movies, as did Susan, and ripped some good music onto my hard drive - listening to the Stones' "Blue & Lonesome" CD now and it's a hell of a lot better than most of their pop stuff though Mick has relied pretty heavily on the echo machine (I wonder if he used one of those old ones with the little tape loop).
All done and back at SECU House. Everything went smoothly and the guy who looked after us - I can't give his name but it was the same as the guy with the steam engines and tuna in Paturoa Road - was absolutely brilliant both professionally and personally. Must take a photo of my room tomorrow. When I get admitted I will probably get upgrade to a room with a view (of I40, mostly, but it's somewhat entertaining for a while. I'll also have a great view of the snow covered Winston-Salem suburbs if the temperature would care to drop 30 degrees.
Comments
Post a Comment