A Day in the Life

So what is it like spending a month in the hospital? Especially being basically
confined to one room with the
occasional tour around the floor.

My days here are not as boring as I thought they would be. Mostly because
chemotherapy saps out a lot of energy.

My day starts bright and early.  I am woken up every morning at 5:30 for labs.
I have a handy picc line, which is a sort of a permanent line in my arm, so this
does not involve a prick. However, the lights need to be turned on. So by the time they
are done, it's 6am and I'm pretty much awake.

At 7am, the floor resident comes by to do a brief exam. I see him later during rounds, but
he checks vitals, breathing, heartrate, etc. He also likes Legos and Lord of the Rings so
sometimes we talk about that.

From 7 - 8am, TLC shows old episodes of What Not To Wear. Love seeing Stacy and Clinton
dress people, so this keeps me entertained.

Breakfast time!! I have finally found a good breakfast combo - cheese omelet, toast (always
cold), bran muffin, cream cheese (often warm) and fruit salad. It's the best I can do. Coffee
tastes terrible so I drink tea.

Then it's Med and Cream time! I take a ton of meds for various things, and have a very
nasty rash caused by one of the antibiotics. The rash is so large that one tube of cream only
lasts one day.

Now I do laps. I try to break up my laps into 4 or 5 groupings. Round and round.
 I wear my FitBit, and my goal here is 5000 steps a day,
which is a little over 2 miles. One of the docs informed me yesterday that it takes 17 laps to
do one mile. So this is a lot of walking.

By the time I'm done with laps, it's time for the docs to come with their rounds.  Luckily this
is usually brief. Everyone stares at the rash and agrees it's huge but might be looking better.

If I am scheduled to get any blood products, this is when I will find that out.

Now it's already lunchtime! Lunch has been very hit or miss. Right now, I'm doing okay
with grilled cheese and a LOT of ketchup.

By this time, I'll do more laps and then watch a movie or have visitors.

The rest of my day is either spent resting or eating or doing laps.

Sounds boring, but I make it work. I have a window in my room, and having the sunshine
come in makes for a nice break.