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| One of my art pieces featuring "an" - our family surname meaning "peace" |
Five nights in Sentara and I am certainly ready to go home - to the company of family, to the comfort of routines, to the coziness of the couch, to the cuddles of the hounds. On a tangent (and we all know how I love I good tangent!), yesterday Baxter learned to breech our backyard fence and nonchalantly scratched and barked to be allowed re-entry to the house at the front door - not once but three times! .... Okay, back on topic.... I am hoping that this morning's bloodwork and the 48 hour check of Tuesday's blood culture will show enough progress that I will be discharged by early afternoon. Time to go!
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The oncologist brought good news on my white blood cells; as of 8:30 I was no longer deemed neutropenic. How lovely to see everyone's full faces! Reading eyes can certainly give a sense of expression but a mask truly masks full communication. I so appreciate getting a complete view of naked faces. And now the countdown is on for my discharge! IV antibiotics? Check. Platelets? Hmmm.... Platelets? Excuse me. May I please have my last infusion of platelets to creep my count above 20 so I can go home? Hello? Platelets? ... Still waiting and waiting.... Yo! Platelets, please? Please? sigh .....
And THEN! Who should Joe find in the hall? Who does Joe usher eagerly into my room? Who must Joe photograph as he rummages for the camera (and Joe RARELY pulls out the camera)? Why... it's "the cart." Yes, "the CART" that my ex-RN, hospital-experienced mother-in-law has been talking about since early May. She has sent me dollar bills as well as shared advice about possible purchases and we have had phone conversations about the perplexing lack of such a cart on both VCU's oncology floor and Bone Marrow Transplant Unit. And now, JUST as we are chomping at the bit here at Sentara and packing our bags, the CART appears, administered by two young teens who are game but somewhat bewildered by our manifest excitement. Joe and I were giggling like idiots. The kids must have thought we were mad! Such fun!+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
6 hours since the oncologist ordered platelets and I am STILL WAITING! My RN says the bottleneck is at the blood bank. I am NOT pleased.
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7 hours after the order went in, my irradiated platelets have arrived from Norfolk and the 1.5 - 2 hour infusion has begun! Yay! My patience muscles have been well exercised today and I have succeeded in retaining my zen. Soon, I will be OUT! I am excited about breathing some fresh air before sunset!
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