Day 1 of the First Consolidation (Wednesday)

Ding, ding, ding--Round Two!

So--its time for round two, which is called a consolidation. I basically go through the whole process again, but there will be a few differences.

• Chemo - is five days instead of seven.
• Recovery - is outpatient until I get a fever and then I am back in the hospital.
• Medication - will be given through a port instead of a picc.

And that is that is it.

Admitting

So, I got a call on Wednesday that they were ready to admit me to "Admission Holding". This means they can bring me in and take blood and such, but that they don't have a room for me yet.

So I arrive, fill out some paperwork, and am taken to a room where I sit and wait. I arrived at the hospital at about 1 pm, and was in that room until 6ish. Quite a long wait in the end, but I had my laptop so stayed occupied. 

They hooked me up with an IV to draw blood, and I doubt they will use it again--I suspect its too small for surgery (for when I get the port) and I am not taking any medication, nor are they drawing more labs. So it hurts a little--and sits there unused. Oh well, not a big deal.

My Room

When I finally get to my room, I am put in another of the narrow rooms with a bed that faces away from the window. They are renovating this floor, and its clear that they have pretty much given up maintaining it from the list of tiny issues:

• My bed doesn't work--it doesn't raise or lower (they have swapped it out).
• Some fluorescent lights hum horribly loud.
• The TV goes "tick, tick, tick" when turned off--so I unplugged it. (The clock also does that so loudly that I pulled out the batteries to sleep :) ). Also the TV remote barely works.
• The drain in the shower is not bolted down.
• There is a cabinet drawer without a face--so it just a empty cavity with nails sticking out.

So little things--but they all make the place feel pretty run down.

My view is nice though.

NPO

The info about the next steps has been pretty vague. At some point on Thursday I will go to surgery to get a port.  I went NPO (no eating) as of midnight to facilitate this, but am still not sure when surgery is.

After I get my port, I get chemo, and then run through the same process.

And that was Wednesday.