The visit with Dr. Mikhael went as expected and we were off to the hospital, Knowing that I was going to be subjected to hospital food for the next two and a half weeks, I really wanted a good burger so we stopped at Rock Bottom and I stuffed a BBQ bacon cheese burger down my throat along with every french fry in the room. Needless to say, when I stepped on the scale I about died at what I weighed. I not only gained everything back I had lost, I tacked on a few extra just for fun. Hey, you only live once.
I am going to do my best as this goes on to view it as a vacation. I have a nice private room with a view of the five story lobby area from the fourth floor. There is a chance that a larger room will open up, so I might get the Presidential suite before it is all over. As you can see from the picture, this is a great resort to visit if you are ever in the area although they don’t have a swimming pool.
Once I got up to the room, I thought that I had stepped into a scene from CSI Miami with all of the gorgeous women around. Now, they are not in bikinis but the nurse outfits will work just fine. I don’t want to sound like a dirty old man, but one of the criteria for getting on this wing is that you have to be an 8 or better. I guess there are advantages to fighting cancer.
The nurses work 12 hour days so I will have a series of rotating nurses through the 17 days. Emily is my nurse until 7:30, She is about 24 and cute as a button. She was very helpful with running down the rules (which I’ll fill you in on later) and explaining some of the things that will be happening during the next few days.
To my chagrin, she isn’t just a tour guide, she gets to do some of the ongoing tests that I have to participate in daily. The first that I had to do was a nasal swab. This was pretty easy and will only be done once per week. This is to check for any infection that might reside in the sinuses. However, number two wasn’t quit so, umm, easy. It was a rectal swab. I’m not even going to take you through that.
As far as the rules go, I have to collect all of my waste materials. They check everything I eat, drink and vacate to make sure that I’m not retaining liquids as I get weighed twice each day. I have to have an IV 24 hours a day dripping saline. If I leave the room, I will have to wear a mask. In addition, I have to keep my door closed.
I will not have ice after I get my chemo for fear of bacteria. I will, however, have to suck on ice for 60 minutes before the chemo, for the 60 minutes of chemo and then for 30 minutes after. This is to reduce the mouth sores that I will inevitably get. No Tylenol or Advil because they need to know if I start to have a fever. I wish this headache would go away.
Because of my late arrival, the fact that they needed to take a chest x-ray and get the chemo mixed together, I missed the 4 PM timing and will have to wait until 10 PM. I guess this will allow me to keep my hair six hours longer.
Even though I wasn’t particularly hungry, I was anxiously awaiting my dinner to see just how good the Mayo food actually was. Their café down stairs serves a mean breakfast so I anticipated at least a favorable testing of my food.
I about fell over when I saw what was delivered: vegetable lasagna, mixed vegetables and split pea soup. Did they not notice that I was a guy? My god, this is female food. As Clara used to say in the old Wendy’s commercials, “Where’s the beef?” It appears that I might be seeing more of this because of the bacteria fears. Now it looks like I won’t even have to get sick to loose weight. This vacation spot might be all inclusive, but I might have to have Julia smuggle in some real food.
My evening nurse is Meredith who happens to be from Dayton. Small world. At 9 PM, I started crunching on ice. Not a bad trick for 5 minutes. Try doing it for 150 minutes. After about an hour ,I gave in and got under a blanket. The literature said I would get cold, but, stubborn as I am, I didn’t believe it. Two hours in I was freezing and dying to go to the bathroom. In the middle of all of this it was time to receive the chemotherapy. This in itself was nothing special. Not really different from what I have received in the past. That does start the clock ticking, however. In about five days, I will notice the difference.
Pretty busy first day, but I can see myself getting board pretty quickly. My goal is to end this vacation in 12 days which is never done. Yes, I’m crazy, but what have I got to lose by being aggressive in my goals?
I am going to do my best as this goes on to view it as a vacation. I have a nice private room with a view of the five story lobby area from the fourth floor. There is a chance that a larger room will open up, so I might get the Presidential suite before it is all over. As you can see from the picture, this is a great resort to visit if you are ever in the area although they don’t have a swimming pool.
Once I got up to the room, I thought that I had stepped into a scene from CSI Miami with all of the gorgeous women around. Now, they are not in bikinis but the nurse outfits will work just fine. I don’t want to sound like a dirty old man, but one of the criteria for getting on this wing is that you have to be an 8 or better. I guess there are advantages to fighting cancer.
The nurses work 12 hour days so I will have a series of rotating nurses through the 17 days. Emily is my nurse until 7:30, She is about 24 and cute as a button. She was very helpful with running down the rules (which I’ll fill you in on later) and explaining some of the things that will be happening during the next few days.
To my chagrin, she isn’t just a tour guide, she gets to do some of the ongoing tests that I have to participate in daily. The first that I had to do was a nasal swab. This was pretty easy and will only be done once per week. This is to check for any infection that might reside in the sinuses. However, number two wasn’t quit so, umm, easy. It was a rectal swab. I’m not even going to take you through that.
As far as the rules go, I have to collect all of my waste materials. They check everything I eat, drink and vacate to make sure that I’m not retaining liquids as I get weighed twice each day. I have to have an IV 24 hours a day dripping saline. If I leave the room, I will have to wear a mask. In addition, I have to keep my door closed.
I will not have ice after I get my chemo for fear of bacteria. I will, however, have to suck on ice for 60 minutes before the chemo, for the 60 minutes of chemo and then for 30 minutes after. This is to reduce the mouth sores that I will inevitably get. No Tylenol or Advil because they need to know if I start to have a fever. I wish this headache would go away.
Because of my late arrival, the fact that they needed to take a chest x-ray and get the chemo mixed together, I missed the 4 PM timing and will have to wait until 10 PM. I guess this will allow me to keep my hair six hours longer.
Even though I wasn’t particularly hungry, I was anxiously awaiting my dinner to see just how good the Mayo food actually was. Their café down stairs serves a mean breakfast so I anticipated at least a favorable testing of my food.
I about fell over when I saw what was delivered: vegetable lasagna, mixed vegetables and split pea soup. Did they not notice that I was a guy? My god, this is female food. As Clara used to say in the old Wendy’s commercials, “Where’s the beef?” It appears that I might be seeing more of this because of the bacteria fears. Now it looks like I won’t even have to get sick to loose weight. This vacation spot might be all inclusive, but I might have to have Julia smuggle in some real food.
My evening nurse is Meredith who happens to be from Dayton. Small world. At 9 PM, I started crunching on ice. Not a bad trick for 5 minutes. Try doing it for 150 minutes. After about an hour ,I gave in and got under a blanket. The literature said I would get cold, but, stubborn as I am, I didn’t believe it. Two hours in I was freezing and dying to go to the bathroom. In the middle of all of this it was time to receive the chemotherapy. This in itself was nothing special. Not really different from what I have received in the past. That does start the clock ticking, however. In about five days, I will notice the difference.
Pretty busy first day, but I can see myself getting board pretty quickly. My goal is to end this vacation in 12 days which is never done. Yes, I’m crazy, but what have I got to lose by being aggressive in my goals?
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