Friday, May 30, 2008

Day 1, Part II

Typed by Kristi, Dictated by Ken

Jill and I arrived at 9:00 for a 9:30 appointment and we waited in 2 different waiting rooms for over 2 hours. How do you get that far behind at 9:00 in the morning? The procedure finally began at 11:30. I had a Double Short Hickman (port or central line) surgically implanted in my chest for all drugs and blood tests. One thing I was disappointed with in the hospital was of the first 8 nurses I met, 6 of them were GUYS! There goes all my fantasies. I was planning on sleeping during the procedure, but we have learned that when I get sedated, I start talking and don't stop. So, remember through all this you can't eat 12 hours before the procedure so I hadn't eaten since 9:00pm Wednesday Evening. When I got out of the procedure, they told me they were so busy in the hospital they gave away my room so they put my bed in a little bay so the nurse tries to get me some food. They said I couldn't get one because I wasn't admitted to the hospital ... that wasn't my fault, they gave my room away! In the meantime, I'm starving to death and I haven't even had chemo yet. Jill went to admitting and they said they would give her a $20 voucher if lunch didn't show up within 30 minutes. Well, lunch didn't show up. By this time, Jill is ready to kill. She went and got me lunch with the voucher and no sooner had I finished that lunch, my lunch from the kitchen showed up. I want from rags to riches in a matter of minutes.

I was supposed to be admitted to my room at 1:00pm but of course, that didn't happen until 3:30pm. Once I got settled in my 7th floor penthouse (minus the flat screen, king sized bed and other luxuries), no one showed up for hours so we began to think this was do it yourself chemo therapy. ! The chemo was supposed to begin early evening but I didn't have any drugs until 9:00pm. One good thing was that when I got to the 7th floor, the nurses drastically improved - WOMEN!!! Not only that, they all started with "m" - Melissa, Michele (one L like Michele Duncan), Mary and Marilyn. Margo, are you interested in becoming a 7th floor nurse?

I know how Harley feels waking up every 2 hours - They woke me up at 1, 3 and 5 to take my vitals and make sure I was still ticking. They say the first 24 hours was supposed to be my "easy" day. It's now 2:00pm and I haven't done jack squat! HA! I am supposed to start a 24 hour chemo starting around 4pm this afternoon which means it will really come late tonight and who knows when I'll get out of here! If I'm released tomorrow evening, I'll stay in Seattle Saturday night and go to Aberdeen Sunday morning.

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers - I've had a lot of phone calls and emails. I LOVE having this laptop to be able to communicate with everyone. Wrestling it away from Jill can be difficult. :) Mariners are on at 7:00pm and I'll definitely be watching. GO M's!

No comments: