The Hospital Visit

This is the hospital I stayed at. It has changed a lot since then.

At work, I was having a little trouble concentrating and remembering everything that I was supposed to do. Normally, I was very organized and on top of things. My calender was constantly updated and I had reminders all day long of things that I was supposed to do. I guess I kept missing things, and a co-worker decided to tell my manager. My manager proceeded to come to my desk in the middle of the office and yell at me for not doing my job properly. I was understandably stressed out by this and struggled not to cry. My coworkers were shocked at this behavior by my manager, and tried to console me while doing their own jobs. I went home that night and complained to my parents. I wasn't feeling well, so I went to bed pretty early.

The next morning, I still wasn't feeling well. I had a bad headache, and when my mom came in to take my temp, I was running around 100. I was still determined to go to work, but I just couldn't get the energy to get out of bed. My mom panicked, and decided she was taking me to the hospital. She packed me all up in the truck and drove me to the ER. I slept most of the way there, and I really don't remember much about being admitted, just that I kind of “came around” when I was in a bed. I was hooked up to machines, and my mom was next to the bed half asleep, holding my hand.

When I was awake, I realized I had an IV drip of saline, and an oxygen monitor hooked up to my finger. I also had a blood pressure cuff that was on my arm, and was pumped up automatically every few minutes. It was really uncomfortable. Everything in the ER was blue: the curtains, the walls, the chairs, even the scrubs that nurses were wearing. I signaled to my mom that I was up, and told her I needed to call in to work. She said she had left a message with Maryanne's voice mail. I said that I still needed to talk to someone, just in case Maryanne wasn't in. So, they brought me a phone. I called and talked to Maryanne. At the point when my mom called, she would have been the only one there, since it was before 7. Now, it was after 10, and Maryanne had gotten my mom's message and had passed it on to my manager. She was terribly worried and let me know that everyone at work was thinking about me and were also worried.

I was running a low-grade fever and was dehydrated. They decided to admit me into the hospital for a couple of days. I was put on a gurney, and the cutest orderlies (do they still call them that?) wheeled me into an elevator and took me up to the women's ward of the hospital. There was not enough cancer patients for the hospital to justify having a chemo ward, so they put me in the next best thing. I got a private room, and a really nice nurse. She introduced herself and wrote her name, my room number, and the hospital phone number on a dry erase board, along with her pager number. I was feeling a little better, but they said I was still dehydrated, my blood pressure was too low, and my temp a little too high.

Soon, my oncologist, Dr. Sapra, came by to see me. He asked me lots of questions about the days leading up to all of this. Including – did anything happen to stress me out? I told him what happened at work the day before. He practically yelled at me - “What are you doing, still working???” I laughed and said that my family and I had decided that I should stick it out as long as I could. He stared at me for a minute and told me – no more work. I breathed a sigh of relief. I really didn't want to continue there while I was sick. I had tried so hard to make a good impression and I was screwing it all up with this cancer crap. I didn't want my good impression to turn into a bad one. So, I was ordered to relax and take it easy for a couple of days in the hospital.

I had a steady stream of visitors. Kim came by, and Elizabeth, Kari and Mark, and my parents. I was admitted on a Friday, and ended up being there the whole weekend. My mom had to work during the day on the weekend, so my dad would go pick up lunch and bring it by and hang out with me. Dad and I really didn't hang out a lot, so this was a rare treat. It still brings me to tears just thinking about it. He was so sweet. We watched bad TV, and talked about nothing. It was just nice to not be alone and to have some time with him. My mom would come by after work for a little while, and then she would need to go home to rest up for the next day. People brought me presents, and flowers, and cards. My parents brought by my blankie and my Piglet stuffed animal for comfort. If I hadn't actually felt like crap with a painful needle in my hand, it would have been fun. Except for the TV. I didn't have much to read, well I actually read through everything pretty fast, after my dad picked up a bunch of music magazines for me. So, I tried to watch stuff on TV. There were only about 5 channels and a movie channel. The movie channel had two movies playing on the weekend, so I think I watched Save The Last Dance 7 times. I never EVER want to see that movie again.

The food was surprisingly fabulous. I had filet mignon on Friday night. My dad was very jealous. He bragged to everyone. The breakfasts were pretty good and I think at one point, I even had a Caesar salad.

On Sunday afternoon, I was told that I would be discharged once the doctors filled out my forms. My dad waited with me for a while, but he got bored and asked if someone could pick me up. I called my friend Elizabeth who said she would, and came by at around 7. Finally, at 9:30, I was wheeled down to the door and she drove her car around to get me. She had a get well card and flowers in her front seat for me. She had also brought a very special friend, her Corgi puppy, Teddy. He was brand new and the sweetest thing ever. He cuddled up in my lap and made me feel so wonderful. Elizabeth was so nice to take me home and make sure I got inside.

My dad was still kind of up, and my mom was all ready for bed. She helped me to my room, and tucked me in. I tossed and turned for a while and finally fell asleep. Even though the hospital was nice, and the people were great, there is nothing like the quiet and comfort of your bed at home. And I never did figure out how the hospital pagers worked.