Sat, 6 May 2006
My Dear Friends,
Got out of the hospital last night. The doc didn't do his rounds until 5 pm! I told the nurse at 4pm that if he didn't show up soon, we'd have to make other arrangements because I was about to break and run.
Like a football player sizing up the competition, the nurse replied,"I can take you." :)
The nurses and assistants were a trip from the start. When I arrived, I balked at the idea of a hospital gown.
I confronted the African-American assistant and said,"Do I have to wear one of those?"
She handed it to me and said,"Yeah, girl! You ain't at home!"
I was pleased with the level of care the nursing staff provided and will probaably write a letter to their supervisor.
I'm feeling better. No more fever and chills. In the hospital, I was on IV fluids all day and night with an antibiotic drip every 8 hours. Of course they gave me Neupogen shots every day to build the white cells.
On Thursday evening, the nurse came to give me my shot. I told her I'd been doing them at home and started to supervise her process.
"Now, you have to squeeze the skin really hard so the shot doesn't hurt..." I said.
She looked up and said, "You wanna do this?"
I laughed, said no and backed off. She did it with no pain whatsoever. Impressive.
My IV antibiotic was due at 2 AM Friday. The night nurse, who had a very sweet disposition, had assured me that she would sneak in quietly and not disturb me.
I do not sleep well in hospitals or hotels. When she came in, all I saw suddenly was a shadowy figure standing over me. I let out a loud GASP! She was startled and very apologetic. No big deal, I said. Mark does that to me all the time because he comes to bed later than me. Mark said I even yelled, "Daddy!" once. I was 33.
I had a chest X-ray while at the hospital. I was extremely nervous, as the lungs are one place to which breast cancer can spread. The tech took a back shot then a side shot.
As I waited, I heard him say, "Oh, sh**!"
My heart sank.
He came out and said there was a line on the film and he had to retake the shot! He was disgruntled anyway. He was complaining to the other tech about having to go to court but no one would fill in for him. Clearly against hospital policy to be all crabby in front of the patients.
The attending doc later told me the x-ray was clear, free of infection or tumors. I cried like a baby. She was confused, as it was happy news. I told her they were happy tears.
They never did find the source of infection. The infectious disease doc came by at about 6pm Friday.
He looks around and says,"Oh, you're packed."
I explained I was discharged. Talk about being a little late for the party! He did sit down and talked for a few minutes. He said that 90% of the time, they don't find the source of infection but that I'd had a relatively short episode of low white cells. I did mention being bitten by Chewy the Hamster back on April 20th. Since I'd seen no visible signs of infection at the site, he said that was not the cause.
He got up to leave, we shook hands and without looking back he said, "Be nice to your hamster!"
I washed my hands right away. Seemed like a good idea after shaking with the infectious disease specialist. :O
It's 10pm. The boys are finishing up watching a movie. I should go down and see. It's been a full day. The little one had a morning soccer game. (They won.) In the afternoon, one of my walking buddies and three of the kids' buddies helped do spring cleaning. My other walking buddy brought over a delicious lasagna for dinner. I am truly blessed to live among such wonderful people.
Thank you for your prayers and kind thoughts.
Love,
Jeanette
Got out of the hospital last night. The doc didn't do his rounds until 5 pm! I told the nurse at 4pm that if he didn't show up soon, we'd have to make other arrangements because I was about to break and run.
Like a football player sizing up the competition, the nurse replied,"I can take you." :)
The nurses and assistants were a trip from the start. When I arrived, I balked at the idea of a hospital gown.
I confronted the African-American assistant and said,"Do I have to wear one of those?"
She handed it to me and said,"Yeah, girl! You ain't at home!"
I was pleased with the level of care the nursing staff provided and will probaably write a letter to their supervisor.
I'm feeling better. No more fever and chills. In the hospital, I was on IV fluids all day and night with an antibiotic drip every 8 hours. Of course they gave me Neupogen shots every day to build the white cells.
On Thursday evening, the nurse came to give me my shot. I told her I'd been doing them at home and started to supervise her process.
"Now, you have to squeeze the skin really hard so the shot doesn't hurt..." I said.
She looked up and said, "You wanna do this?"
I laughed, said no and backed off. She did it with no pain whatsoever. Impressive.
My IV antibiotic was due at 2 AM Friday. The night nurse, who had a very sweet disposition, had assured me that she would sneak in quietly and not disturb me.
I do not sleep well in hospitals or hotels. When she came in, all I saw suddenly was a shadowy figure standing over me. I let out a loud GASP! She was startled and very apologetic. No big deal, I said. Mark does that to me all the time because he comes to bed later than me. Mark said I even yelled, "Daddy!" once. I was 33.
I had a chest X-ray while at the hospital. I was extremely nervous, as the lungs are one place to which breast cancer can spread. The tech took a back shot then a side shot.
As I waited, I heard him say, "Oh, sh**!"
My heart sank.
He came out and said there was a line on the film and he had to retake the shot! He was disgruntled anyway. He was complaining to the other tech about having to go to court but no one would fill in for him. Clearly against hospital policy to be all crabby in front of the patients.
The attending doc later told me the x-ray was clear, free of infection or tumors. I cried like a baby. She was confused, as it was happy news. I told her they were happy tears.
They never did find the source of infection. The infectious disease doc came by at about 6pm Friday.
He looks around and says,"Oh, you're packed."
I explained I was discharged. Talk about being a little late for the party! He did sit down and talked for a few minutes. He said that 90% of the time, they don't find the source of infection but that I'd had a relatively short episode of low white cells. I did mention being bitten by Chewy the Hamster back on April 20th. Since I'd seen no visible signs of infection at the site, he said that was not the cause.
He got up to leave, we shook hands and without looking back he said, "Be nice to your hamster!"
I washed my hands right away. Seemed like a good idea after shaking with the infectious disease specialist. :O
It's 10pm. The boys are finishing up watching a movie. I should go down and see. It's been a full day. The little one had a morning soccer game. (They won.) In the afternoon, one of my walking buddies and three of the kids' buddies helped do spring cleaning. My other walking buddy brought over a delicious lasagna for dinner. I am truly blessed to live among such wonderful people.
Thank you for your prayers and kind thoughts.
Love,
Jeanette
posted by Mark Kappe @ 6:14 PM
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