Back from the Hospital

I've been home almost 24 hours now from the hospital. We returned to some beautiful late spring weather - warm, with soft spring breezes, and many more spring flowers having "popped" open in our yard. I'm so happy to be home. It felt good just now to sit next to the water garden, watching the birds and the squirrels and the fish, listening to the sound of the water, and feeling the sun on my skin. My garden is such a source of joy right now; new flowers blooming, buds beginning to form. The dogwood tree we planted in honor of Lucy's birthday is full of showy white blossoms, and colorful tulips have popped up here and there. And, a very exciting development, in only the second time since I planted it seven years ago, my tree peony has a flower bud. I'll have to take pictures and post them soon. For today, there are just words to express my delight.

I am feeling good. I don't have much pain, and what I have is associated with breathing deeply enough to keep my lungs clear of liquid. A few days on my back in the hospital, and the doctors were worried about the possibility of pneumonia, so I'm working hard to keep my lungs working as efficiently as they can.

For four days, three nights, I was hospitalized. As you know from Monday's post, they were planning to keep me overnight on the day of the procedure, wanting to watch and make sure they didn't stir up some problems that would create infection. I did run a fever Tuesday night, so I was glad to be there. The procedure was through "interventional radiology," and its purpose was to insert a stent at the liver where it drains into my jejunum (because of my surgery a year ago). The procedure was considered successful, but they could see another blockage just "around the corner" in the jejunum (part of the top of the intestines), and were unable to insert a stent because of the bile that had backed up and some swelling. So, when I came out of Tuesday's procedure, they said they wanted me to rest on Wednesday, then do it again on Thursday. And of course doing it again Thursday meant keeping me there Thursday night for more observation.

And here's a surprising note about my hospitalization: I was on the oncology floor, which seemed to me to be very quiet, and except for the night I ran a fever and they were drawing blood and giving me antibiotics, I was able to sleep! It was amazing. I slept for 5 hours straight each night, and then got in additional time. I'd never heard of someone actually sleeping at night in the hospital!

The external drain is still in my side, but stoppered, as it were. If there's no indication I'll be needing it, it will be removed this Tuesday, and then all of my stents will be internal! (A really good thing!) Also scheduled for Tuesday is the replacement of my bladder stent. I'm hoping they can do both of these and still let me go home Tuesday night. That's my order, at least! If all goes well, I'll be done with these medical procedures for a while.

I'm a little fuzzy brained from the narcotics, so I don't know if I'm being overly detailed in all of this. I can say I'm relieved by the way the week went, despite the hospitalization I didn't initially anticipate. My biggest medical complaint this morning is the development of thrush, but I have a prescription and hopefully we can start knocking it out. (Thrush is a yeast infection in the mouth that we are susceptible to when we are hit with heavy duty antibiotics.) I've discovered there's a difference between things tasting funny due to thrush, and tasting funny because of chemo. Hopefully, I'll be able to get more food into me today!

So, that's my fuzzy-brained check-in. Thinking of all of you with love and appreciation as I've read all of your comments to my post and to Patty's this week. May we all enjoy a weekend of wonderful weather wherever we are. Love to all.