The hospital... a short stay

Dr. Alyea and the transplant team assured me that my stay at Brigham and Women's Hospital would be short (8 or 9 days) and that the most common side effect of this procedure is boredom. Even nausea from the chemo is unusual, only 1 in 10 feel sick. Turned out that it was true. I did get bored and I did not get sick.

In some ways it is harder to be confined and feel well; who even notices the confinement when you feel like hell. I had brought my laptop, DVDs, music CDs, books and magazines. The room has a TV and WiFi for Internet service. I had all the distractions I could possibly enjoy. I even had a double room all to myself. In spite of the diversions, including frequent visitors, I found myself eager to got out and go home.

The treatments that I received were not particularly exciting, drip in chemo (intravenously) over a period of 4 hours. Drip in "normal saline" to keep me nicely hydrated. Drip in electrolytes when the labs indicated a need for them. And finally (on the next to last day) drip in my brother's stem cells (thank you and bless you, Michael.) This last infusion should have been the climax of the week. (For some it must be, the nurse offered me an anti-anxiety drug in case I was getting torqued out about the stem cells; I declined.) For me it was another infusion. Meaningful but not exciting.

Days passed, I got intravenous infusions, and I stayed in my room. Picture me pacing like a caged tiger, no, scratch that. I didn't pace. The room is small and the IV fluids hang on a pole that I had to drag around the room with me if I wanted to walk. What did make the time pass well were the many visits from family and friends.Visitors would bring me tales of the outside world. Astonishing (though some quite hard to believe) accounts of tasty foods from kitchens and restaurants where the food is prepared with salt and spices. My loving family smuggled in little packets of condiments and salt, like the little packets offered by fast food places or Chinese take-out. My official diet allows such additions to the food, the hospital kitchen just isn't aware that they exist. During the last 3 days of my stay at B&W I lost my appetite, probably due to the chemo. I was spared having to feign interest in bland food 3 times a day. There were so many reasons that I was eager to get home.

The morning of July 6, 2007, the nurse confirmed that I would go home that day, most likely late afternoon. I had my stuff packed up and laid out on the bed by noon. All my take-home prescriptions were ready and in a big plastic bag. In the afternoon, the nurse gave me the last infusion of medication, went over the discharge instruction and wheeled me out. Quite a sight, me in the lead, seated in a wheel chair (hospital rules ya know,) the nurse at the helm, family and friends parading along behind. Free at last, free at last!

With the exception of an occasionally queasy stomach, I felt fine and had throughout the hospital stay. Going home was a joyful event.