Day Seven - Thursday - So the Blog Starts Here?

Well, sort of.

My wife, Jen,  gave me the idea to start the blog on Monday--a few days ago now--and due to the combination of fatigue, short attention span and other things--it took me  awhile to get going. 

I felt like I wanted to start chronologically, and back fill in the history--and I still will--but as she pointed out, people want to know how I am feeling now, so I had best speak to the present, and get back to the history when I'm a feelin' good.

Thursday

Thursday started great. I was feeling good--in fact, I started this blog and put in the first two entries about what I have, and my first day in.

I had a great nurse and  a couple of techs  who really took care of me. The techs are both training to be nurses here on the property and Florida Hospital's Nursing School, which is on the same property as the hospital. They both are months away from graduation.

Food

In general my appetite was all but gone. I think had a banana (joy!) and some cereal and was off to a great start, but for the rest of the day I think it was a couple of carnation instant breakfasts and that's about it. 

Fluids

I am still full of fluids. They fill me through the IV as it somehow helps the chemotherapy, but it means I have cankles and a ginormous belly. If you recall, when I checked into the hospital, they weighed me in at 187.5 (with clothes and shoes, etc). I am riding along at 211 currently--a big blob of liquid--no sloshing though--more like an inflated balloon.

Le Salon

I decided to bite the bullet and get my head shaved. I'm going to lose all my hair from the chemo, anyway--and what with it being 6 days since it was last washed, it was certainly easy to want to get rid of. My two techs came in and did the deed while Jen looked on.  

My hair is fine, but crazy thick, and the clippers tugged at it a bit mercilessly, but overall it went well. I now have an all-but-shaved-head with teeny tiny hairs enthusiastically at attention. I then used the clippers on my 6 day old beard --which was OK--and now I am scraggly all over :)

The Bath

The final part of the salon was the sponge bath. Jen the day before gave me one, and it was so great to feel clean after 5 days without a shower that I wanted one again. Plus, as I was covered with little shaved hair remnants it seemed like a good idea. At the same time the tech can change the sheets so I get clean and my bed gets clean, and I feel like a new man.

Unfortunately today's fell apart. After getting some water on me, I just got cold--really cold, and started shivering. I'm sure a little bit of it was due to the fact that my head was a bare frozen ball, but even so--it was all too much to bear. Jen rushed through it--thankfully--and dried me up and threw me under some blankets in a chair while I tried to warm up. 

The Fever

A little while later I as back in bed with clean sheets and a blanket on my head--feeling poorly. Jen headed home after an overall nice visit, but I was not doing great. I threw up, and they took my temperature and discovered I had a fever of 101.5 I think. They game me some Compazine (sp?) anti-nausea stuff that also knocks me out--and I was down for most of the evening.

The Embarrassment

At midnight they came to take my labs, which they do through my PICC. Really neat. But when they came I realized that at some point I had wet myself. Even with that, before I cleaned up, I used my urinal (think jug with handle) and filled it to a liter in one go. (The nurse commented on me having a huge bladder.)

The nurse was incredible. She set me up with a basin and wash clothes to clean myself with and fresh boxers. I changed and she made my bed, did my labs, took all my vitals and even more lickety-split. And she hooked me up with an orange popsicle--my food of choice.

I slept through most of the night, with another popsicle break at some point.

And that was Thursday.