Early arrival at LDS Hospital--7:00 a.m. Dale and I are the first people back in the Radiology nursing department, so it's quiet--except for one nurse who cannot keep from laughing loudly at almost everything. It's funny to hear such boisterous noises when we woke up at 5:30 to come, but it's better than the unusally sterile quietness that pervades most hospitals.
The central line placement goes very well. And Meredith, the PA who places it, tells me that I'm her best patient ever--male or female. I opt for no sedation (of course!) and she says I'm only her third patient without sedation. The first was a pregnant mom and sedation would damage her baby. The second was a macho rock climber who cried the moment they brought him back into the procedure room. She said the pain isn't too bad but most people cringe when they know what all the tugging and pulling means and that's when they freak out. Not me.
They move me from the procedure table to my own bed to keep me sitting up while they pull the port. Once again, fairly easy and we're on our way for another chest x-ray, then admission to the 8th floor.
They warned me that half of the rooms on the East 8th side face a building with a lovely view of a cement wall. Sure enough, that's my room. It feels like I'm in prison, and I immediately start negotiating for a room with a view. I might have to wait a day for it, but I'm okay with that. I just can't handle 28 days or so in a prison room.
It seems no one was really prepared for me to come today, at least on the floor. There are no orders for medications, meals, or standard protocols of any kind. Chemo starts really late--around 11:00 p.m. It's BCNU, which is mostly alcohol, so we were told to expect some weird side effects. However, Dale leaves before it's given and I never felt anything weird so I guess we missed the opportunity of seeing what I'm like when intoxicated or a little tipsy. I think I'm okay with that outcome :-)
Transplant - 7 days (T - 7) and counting!
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