Walk a mile with my IV stand

Monday, January 27^th – Walk a mile with my IV Stand

One of the thoughts that went through my head during the restless portion of this night was the bed I was in.  I started imagining all the people who had been in the bed before me.  All the stories, all the fear, all the hope, all the triumphs, and all the defeats.  Must be 100s of stories before mine, I hope most of them turned out well.

Monday was a good day overall.  I began what I felt would become a routine for me over the next month.  I had my morning vital sessions with the nurses, took my medications, ordered and ate my breakfast, and was let off the IV leash to take a shower.  In fact, this AM I ducked out of the room for 15 minutes and walked independently around the hospital floor for exercise.  Just me, no IV stand.  It felt great.  10 laps to make a mile.  I vowed that I would continue to press myself outward from the confines of my room.  I keep having visions of Shawshank Redemption each time I spend too much time in the room.

Day 2 of 7 of heavy chemo was starting and once I was hooked back up, I broke out my lap top and forced myself into working mode.  I typically work from home with the computer and phone as my main tools.  My intent was to continue working as long as I can to feel productive and stave off boredom.  It all worked pretty well.  Given that I still don't know the full plan or prognosis of my illness, I decided not to share information with my work colleagues yet.  This creates some awkward moments when people ask, "How's it going?", "What did you do this weekend?", etc.  Walking a mile around a hospital floor is hard to explain. But for now I feel like it's the best course of action and will help keep me sane.

More good news on WBC, the number had dropped further to 125,000. My hemoglobin was low however, so I was given a single bag blood transfusion.  O+ for all you donors out there!

Overall a very successful day.  Still no side effects, I was able to be productive with work, blood counts are headed in the right direction.  At home, the kids made it through their first day at school and Joanne her first day at work.  A challenging day for them as they would have to face people who knew about me and look them in the eye.  We were able to talk at night and with the iphone Facetime feature, see one another.  Very powerful.

The only disappointing news of the day is that the report has not returned from the pathologist about the AML subtype.  I still carry anxiety and hope around those results.