I Saw a House Today

It's been a week! I didn't realize I'd gone that long without writing.

First bit of news: It looks like, if all goes well, I'll be out of here next Friday. That's only for 2-5 days though. Then I'm back in the hospital for 5-ish days, for another round of the nasties (chemo nasties, that is).
But man, it's crazy realizing how soon that is. This Tuesday is the 4 week mark of my stay here. It does NOT feel like it's been that long.

So, I'll try to remember how this week went. I have a feeling there's going to be some generalizing, since some of it is kind of a blur.
Until around Thursday night, I kept on feeling lousy, sick, exhausted, and overall not-so-good. I stayed in bed most of the time. I had the wonderful company of family and friends, many of whom I'm sure I fell asleep on (not literally, of course :P ).

I got another spinal tap on Tuesday. Had chemo injected into my spinal fluid. That operation involved being transported, on my bed, to the ICU, where they gave me sleeping potion (fun stuff!).
The doctor took a while to get there, so we had a fun chat with Laurie first, who is awesome (I forget exactly what she does, but she's on my team of doctors, and participates in the doctor parties).
I was super happy to find out that my port was due to be re-accessed on the same day, which meant they could do that while I was asleep. It's done every week. I've only experienced it awake once. Basically, they take out the little black butterflies that have needles stuck into the port in my chest, and replace them. Which means two big pokes.
But this time the big pokes were done while I was asleep. I felt so sneaky for it.

I can't remember which evening it was, but one evening this week, I suddenly felt better. It was weird. I realized that I wasn't in pain, I was awake, and I actually felt pretty good. Mom, Dad, Erek and I played two games of Hearts (a card game) that night.
And the feeling has more or less lasted.

My counts are going up. Which means that I'm making neutrophils, red blood cells, AND platelets. Awesome!

I absolutely fell in love with the Minestrone soup that someone sent over. I don't think any kind of food has ever made me that happy before. Which is kind of strange. And I've been having cravings for green beans. I can't really stand the idea of cookies or sweets right now. My mom is super happy about all of it.
And, I didn't get a menu after I got back from the PICU last week. I didn't even ask for one. I basically had it memorized, and could order without needing it (and I ate a lot of soup anyway). But today I decided that I probably had forgotten about something, so I asked for a new one. And WOW, it was DIFFERENT! It had this whole section with stuff like tofu ravioli, Chile over rice, and eggplant parmesan. And just overall, it was huge.

I was disconnected from Winnifred (my IV pole, in case you missed it in previous posts) for about 4 hours today. So mom and I took a walk. It was so weird, not having to pull anything along with me. I'd gotten so used to it, I felt a little imbalanced at first.
For the first time since I've been here, we went down to the lobby, and went outside. Not just the "playdeck". Out, in front of the hospital. I didn't even know I was allowed to do that. It was amazing feeling the breeze on my bald head. I got to take my mask off, and enjoy the sunshine.

Some people in the halls stared, I guess at my hairlessness. Or maybe it was the Mickey Mouse mask... It was kind of amusing, and a little disturbing.

Speaking of hairlessness. Every time I look at a reflective surface, especially windows from far away, I remember that I'm bald. It's weird, forgetting like that. It feels pretty natural by now.
I haven't worn any hats or scarves or wigs yet, besides trying them on (I haven't even gotten my complimentary wig from downstairs yet (because I haven't asked. Tomorrow we're going to.)). But then again, I haven't been out in the world yet, besides right out the front doors. It's going to be interesting, seeing how I feel about my head once I'm out of here.
There's still stubble there, though it's coming out. Someone suggested lint rolling my head, which I think is hilarious. Apparently it's been done. I'm very tempted. But it's fun to pet my head!

Today I got stitches in the upper incision for my port, because it had gone three weeks without closing up at all. So a surgeon came up to my room a few hours ago, poked me with a syringe full of numbing stuff, and sewed me up.
Yeah, I've kind of gotten used to this stuff.

My room is bubbly. They put a little humidifier thing in, because it's so dry in here, and it bubbles away softly all of the time. Kind of like being in a fish tank. It's a sweet sound.

I hardly slept at all last night. Dad and I watched a movie until 2 AM, and then I was hungry (I can thank Prednisone for the appetite). So I went out to the fridge, heated up some soup ( <3 ), and took it back to my room. Ate in the dark, slept a bit, had some weird dreams. Woke up again, hungry. ANOTHER trip to the fridge, drank some Kefir (yummy yogurt drink), had some more soup. It was an interesting night. Up at 7 AM, breakfast, and finally, I slept until around 11:30.

Mom, Dad, Erek and I took a lengthy walk today, exploring the hallways. We went up to the 5th floor, and just wandered around. We ended up in the University of Rochester section, with narrow hallways, lots of research labs, and different views out of the windows (Me: "I haven't seen a house for so long!"). It was fun reading the signs on the doors, with their intimidating warnings ("Do not enter, do not knock, do not disturb").

Dad was up here just for the weekend. Erek flew back to DC today, though he'll be back in a few days. So tonight it was just mom and I, which hadn't happened yet. We had a nice, relaxed evening, with me getting the dressing for my port changed for the third time today, and stitches.

I'm back in normal clothes! Normal, as in, pajamas and a tank top. No more hospital gowns.

Well, I'm going to go have some soup, and then hopefully get some sleep.