Field Trip!

Today was atypical. I think the day actually started on Monday with a visit from my sister. Yea! She came with a few art projects and boxes of girl scout cookies. What more does one need? We did not indulge in either, however because people keep me busy around here. It was fun just to share the time of walking up and down the halls side-by-side without activating the automatic doors or running into a cart. That was the funniest walking yet because there was a lot of obstacles in the hallway that day. It was a good time, too, because my fever broke that day. They had put me on heavier antibiotics over the weekend and taken extra, EXTRA precautions, and (thank you, Lord) good ol' 98.6 returned. We'll never know what caused the fever, but everyone around here expects it because the body just doesn't have the umph to deal with a wee little germ.

The second part of today was Tuesday. Trish stayed the night, so she got to experience the snooze alarms of 4:30am (vitals check, weight check), 5:30am (blood draw) and 6:30am (meds). That can vary a bit, but I think that is what happened. The hours were pretty steady like that, but it was actually fun with her company. She had brought our customary sack of stuff to show me. This time is was project ideas, which was great. In return, she was required to watch the Duggars with me. Then, I had platelets and blood (thank you, Lord), and she and I both conked out for an hour. We walked some more, and then we slept. It went so very quickly.

The last part of today ended this morning. Evidently my bone marrow transplant coordinator had sent out an email asking that certain tests be performed before I am discharged from the hospital, but no hurry. So I was escorted by AMBULANCE .9 miles to another hospital for a lung test. (To their credit, I couldn't think of a way around the ambulance ride because my immunity is compromised, remember? No taxi for me.) That went pretty well, although we had to wait in the weirdest little room with strange equipment and archives separated from the other patients. Everyone then got confused about where I was supposed to be and "Did you come with any paperwork?" (nope) and "Do you have that ambulance company's number" (nope). I was really glad to have Trish to laugh through that with me. We were finally put in yet another little room on a different floor to wait for the ambulance. So, I get on the final leg of our journey (on a stretcher, of course, because that's how one is to ride on an ambulance), and I thought it would be wise to advise the EMT that "I'm not allowed to be around the general population" and to go through the least crowded area of the hospital. Tricia told me later that his eyes got so big at that statement. It hit us that he probably thought that I had tuberculosis!!! We came .7miles back to my hospital (that's how it works in a city--you would never have to go two different distances to get back to the same place in a small town), and I'm glad to be back in my little corner of the world.

Trish is going to swing by Waco to say hello before returning to her troops. She is taking a treasure for Cade from me, although he is to share. It is the spring-loaded nostril clamp from my lung test.