Day +15: Walking and Sleeping and Eating and Chatting

Last night was the first night of real sleep that Jason and I have enjoyed since arriving nearly three weeks ago. When the rays of sunlight crawled into our room this morning we covered our faces with pillows and blankets and hid under them until the nurses came into the room to check Jason’s vital signs.

Jason ate a little bit for breakfast, chatted over hot chocolate, and even walked around the hospital. Actually, Jason was able to walk all the way to the Children’s Hospital to visit friends. Plus, Jason will be entertaining company for just a few minutes this afternoon.

So far, Jason’s vital signs have been good. His blood pressure is lower than the nurses are used to seeing but they say that it is healthy. His oxygen level is holding steady in the mid 90’s so everyone is pretty confident that his lungs are doing well. His headache is still present but it has been controlled by a pain pump.

The doctors were discussing Jason’s health this morning and we are just waiting to see some improvement in his White Cell Counts, and steadier blood levels (his numbers still decrease by about one half unit per day), as well as an increase in platelets (still 6,000). They anticipate at least a week and a half until we see those numbers improve.

We continue to hope that Jason will be feeling better every day, that the bone marrow starts to grow, and that his blood counts increase. We cannot wait to be home.

Also, we would like to take a moment to thank our Church family and friends for their generosity and kindness during this emotional and difficult time. Your support has been wonderful! 

Day +10

We have finally hit the double digits here at the hospital! It has been ten days since Jason has received his transplant, and over two weeks since we had been admitted. We still wait for the marrow to grow and start producing cells. It could be a while but we are hoping to see this happen soon.  Jason’s platelets remain steady at 7,000 (really low) and his hemoglobin fluctuates between 8 and 9 (not too bad).

Jason had a fever today but no one seems surprised. We are told it is normal, and the fever was under control in about 20 minutes. I must say, there are many things about this hospital we can really appreciate. He was able to get a few hours of sleep last night, and he is sleeping now after a busy day of antibiotics, blood draws, a chest xRay and platelets.

Another present arrived for Jason yesterday. Since he is my lumberjack, I got him a pillow with a bark pattern. What he doesn’t know is that there will be nine more of these pillows at home for him. Here is a picture of him sleeping on it this morning.

On the schedule for Jason today is the hope of a lot of sleep and healing. On the schedule for me is a small window to get some work done. You would think that sitting in a hospital all day and night would mean that you have oodles and oodles of time on your hands but the truth is that you are often helping your patient, moving out of the way of nurses, and running errands all on little or no sleep. When Jason sleeps I sleep.

But I am not “down” or “upset” or “sad.” I can assure everyone who is concerned for my health that I am very optimistic and relaxed, that I am eating three meals per day with snacks, that I shower every day, do my laundry, that I haven’t lost or gained any weight and I even do my hair and makeup in the morning. I appreciate your concern but I am quite fine. And my mother is my “caretaker,” making sure that I have been taking care of myself.

If I do become stressed, it would begin once we return home and I will need to begin cooking (per hospital rules), cleaning (per hospital rules), taking care of Jason and monitoring his meds, driving him to the hospital 1-3 times per week for months, and returning back to work when Jason is able to take care of himself. But I know there are many people who have offered their help and I will gladly take it. I am grateful for the friends and family we have who are willing to help us on this long journey. I continue to walk forward with the hope that this strange and dangerous procedure will be the beginning of a terrific, long life for Jason! Thank you for all of your prayers and help!

The Skinny Caretaker

Since I have lived in this hospital a time or two I can share my knowledge of how to stay fit and active during a hospital stay (Not the patient, the caretaker). It’s really incredibly simple: Do absolutely nothing different.

I would actually be shocked if a healthy caretaker gained weight during a hospital stay. Why? Because the simplest tasks take the greatest amount of exercise and time.

On a typical day you get started by taking a nice, hot shower. But you cannot use the shower in the patient’s room… No, no no! You must use a public shower. In this hospital there is only one public shower that I have found, so far. It’s location? Three floors below me. No matter which way you choose to reach that shower you are bound to get your exercise. I personally prefer to take the stairs from the 6^th floor to the 3^rd floor (keep in mind that this hospital actually has a floor between every floor so three floors is really six). Then, walk down the long maze of a hallway to the shower. Odds are, since it is the only shower, there is someone already using it. Your option is to sit in the hallway and wait the five to thirty minutes, or just go back up to your room and try again later. If you return to your room your exercise increases.

Want breakfast? Well, your patient can have it delivered to their room but you are not the patient. If you want something to eat, grab your purse, walk 75 feet to the elevators, take them to the second floor, walk another 60 feet past the surgical waiting area, turn Left and walk for thirty feet, turn Right and walk for thirty feet past the pharmacy, veer left, walk through the crossroads section about 100 feet to the H elevators. Take the H elevators to the first floor, walk about 20 feet to the cafeteria, grab your food, and follow the exact same course, in reverse, back up to your room, while carrying your food.

And what if you have to pee? Perhaps I am the only person who uses the bathroom every hour but, if you are like me, then you will certainly get your exercise. Remember, you cannot use the patient’s bathroom, which is always calling your name from only ten feet away. You must use a public bathroom to prevent spreading infection and germs to the patient who has a very poor immune system. You would imagine that there is a public restroom in every hallway but you would imagine wrong. To use the bathroom on this floor you need to walk about 100 feet down the hall. Not too terrible but it is through three different doorways. However, you need to share that bathroom with nearly every other patient’s caretaker so it is more than likely that, once you walk the distance to the bathroom, you will need to wait. Don’t be fooled. I once waited about ten minutes before I walked away. If the bathroom is in use it is time to enact the Backup Bathroom Emergency Plan (BBEP). You have walked the distance, waited the appropriate time, and now you REALLY have to pee! What do you do? Turn around, head back to the elevators, go to the second floor. Don’t make the mistake of checking the fifth, fourth, and third floors for a bathroom. This is especially fun at night when you really have to pee and you need a badge and shoes to walk around outside the room.

Need something in your car? No worries. If you walk non-stop you can probably get to your car from the B6/600 Rooms  in about 7 minutes, making your trip to the car a 14 minute roundtrip.

If you are still hankering for some exercise after all of your daily duties are complete then keep reading to learn about some ridiculously stupid things I do while I am here in order to keep myself in shape (no joke, I seriously do these).

1.       1. I avoid the elevators. I don’t like sitting in a box with other people so I take the stairs because no one else does. If I do take the elevators I perform as many squats as I can while the elevator is moving. I stop as soon as I see the doors opening to avoid possible humiliation.

2.       2. At night, when I walk to the cafeteria or the convenience store I perform a series of lunges. I have to walk a couple hundred feet and there are very few people here at night so I lunge my way down the halls.

3.    

            3. Whenever I go to the bathroom I perform a few standing squat/hip abductions or front kick combinations (after I use the facilities, of course). The bathroom is large enough and no one can come in so there is no risk of anyone seeing me acting like a fool.

4.       4. I walk to my car the long way. When I need something from my car, which is parked on the fourth floor of the parking ramp, I don’t use the elevator, and I don’t use the stairs. I walk from the first level up to the fourth as though I were a car going to the top. This requires me to walk three, uphill laps to my car. This is exhausting.

There, now you know how to stay in shape while you are staying in the hospital with your patient. And you also know some embarrassing facts about me. Keep checking back for more useful information about my husband and his bone marrow transplant.