Now I wait.

Anyone who has been in a hospital knows that it is no place for sick people and certainly no place to get rest!

I got to the Kadlec ER at about 12:30 on Saturday. There are definite advantages to being a neutropenic cancer patient and one of them is you get taken to a room right away. When I arrived, I told the nurse “I am a patient of Dr. Rado’s and I am neutropenic.” This allowed me to bypass all the sick people in the waiting room. I went straight to a room…no triage…no waiting…no muss…no fuss. I spent the next five hours in the ED getting blood work done, receiving platelets and having my nose packed, which was an absolutely lovely experience. Having a “nose tampon” shoved up your nose is an experience everyone should have at least once. Makes one appreciate breathing.

Originally, they had said I was going to the CDU for my platelets, which meant I would be here for a little while, but not actually admitted. Imagine my surprise when I found out that I was not going to CDU, but was being admitted until “at least tomorrow.” ‘At least tomorrow’, what the heck does that mean?! I just needed platelets and then go home, right? Well, I guess not. I was informed that I was in the hospital until my platelets came up and my bleeding stopped. This is when another advantage to begin neutropenic came in. I had to have a private room, so I ended up on the surgical floor, which are nice big private rooms, with individual baths and showers, so much better than the medical floor, which desperately needs to be redone.

Still, not a place to rest. I finally got to my room about 6pm and ordered something to eat, I hadn’t eaten all day. I found it very hard to consume food while my nose was bleeding, so I really hadn’t eaten much for three days. Just about the time I was getting my food, it was time to go get a chest x-ray. So I was transported to x-ray, got back to my room, started eating and it was time for IV antibiotics and a blood draw. Finally, I got to eat. And tasty soup it was!! Maybe being so hungry helped.

I was getting blood transfused until about 11pm and my last blood draw was at midnight. At that time my platelets had finally come up to 42, but my hemoglobin had not increased at all. Finally I got to sleep a little bit, in short one hour bursts. The bed is terribly uncomfortable and the pillow, awful, and the hallway noise, not to mention the incredibly bright red clock on the wall that counts out not only the minutes, but the seconds. So you can see second by second all the minutes you are not sleeping! Very handy.

After only four short hours, it was time for my vitals. Then at 6am another blood draw and IV antibiotics. At 8am another blood draw…are you getting the picture here? No rest. Rest is not allowed in hospitals.

Now I wait. I wait to see if the doctor is going to release me. My latest levels shows platelets down just a little to 39 but my hemoglobin is finally starting to come up. I think my nose has finally stopped bleeding and I hope the doctor will yank this dang nose tampon out soon! It makes for difficult breathing, and it looks funny.

I’m ready to go home. I promise to keep resting if they would just let me go home!