Donna in Hollywoodland

My Night in The Hospital

The nurses all around me ... making me comfortable.
Three ice packs ... one on top of my right boob, one on the bottom of my left boob, and one under my left armpit.
I am all snuggled in nice and cold, me and my ice packs.

One nurse was really smart. He pulled a fast one on me. He had to give me a painkiller shot every 6 hours. He showed me this little tiny needle.
And he said it was best to give it to me in the butt. I was like "Okay Fine". It hurt so bad, I was screaming.
I couldn't figure out why a little needle like that hurt so bad. (I figured out the next day, that he had had the needle retracted so I didn't see the full length of the thing.)

My friend Karie comes back. My doctor had called her and told her I was ready and would be staying overnight.
She stays a while, then needs to get out. She goes to the grocery store to get straws. I am on a liquid diet, and its pretty hard to sip without spilling stuff all over me.
I brought bottled water with me, and Juicy Juice . I had already drank two small containers of Juicy Juice when the tray arrived from Food Services with my liquid diet. Apple juice, Broth, Lemon-lime soda.
I was already munching the organic saltine crackers I brought with me, when they told me I was going to get dinner.
They did give me an anti-nausea drug before I ate dinner .. but after my organic saltine crackers.

Then the Nurse saw the Juicy-Juice cartons and the empty water bottles.
"How much are you DRINKING?" she asked in surprise. I guess she is supposed to write it all down in my chart.

Of course, with all that drinking... I had to do the unavoidable. I pushed the button.
A nurse in the loudspeaker "Yes ?"
Me : "What do I do if I have to go to the bathroom?"
The nurses came and helped me and my IV waddle over to the bathroom.
My pee was Neon Blue.
Dye they injected into the tumor so they could follow the drainage into the lymph nodes.
Pretty wild, I thought.

Another friend came by to spend the evening. During which time, dinner arrived. It was better than I expected.
Chicken and a rice pilaf and green beans. A pretty good whole wheat dinner roll. A minestrone soup that had tomatoes, which meant I didn't touch it for fear of getting heartburn. And a custard, which I took two bites of - and I decided since I am giving up milk products due to the added hormones, it wasn't yummy enough to risk.

As I was sitting up, eating dinner - my Doctor arrived. The first words out of her mouth were "Ok, you're up, you're talking, you're eating dinner."
She went over that one lymph node had tumor.
I was surprised "A tumor ?"
"Cancer" - she answered.
For some reason I don't think of a tumor and cancer as being the same thing. But I guess in my case it is.
Then we talked about the At-Home Nurse who would come by to help me with my drainage tube. Because I don't do "icky" things very well.
I must have been really loopy from the pain killers - because I remember making a really stupid joke about the At-Home Nurse helping to empty my cat litter box. And I thought it was hysterical. A few days later I'm like "Did I really say that?"
I introduced her to my two friends. And we talked about me going home tomorrow. She said she would stop by in the morning to see how I was doing.

One friend left soon after dinner. The other friend left after visiting hours were over, at 8pm.
I propped myself up in bed, with more apple juice from the nurses, and my organic crackers.
As I munched, I watched TV. And you would never in a million years guess which TV show I decided to watch while I was in the hospital recovering from surgery ? House MD .
And I hardly ever watch it at home. I am looking at the weird morbid things on the TV show and asking myself "Why Am I Watching This?"
But I didn't turn it off.
Just as The Practice was about to start, I was wondering if I was allowed to take walks. I mean, I am laying in bed in one position, and I am sure my feet are going to cramp up.
Well, I was right on schedule because a nurse came in and said "Why don't you see if you can walk around a bit?"
So me and my IV bag went up and down the hallway a few times. Passing all those other patients who were far way sicker than me.
And I thought "Oh.... I am getting out of here tomorrow morning, no matter what. For Sure."

Back to bed, I fell asleep watching TV.