Monday 8.11.2008

Last night I went to bed about 10, and I think I went to sleep pretty fast. I woke a few times being hot (which is not different), but I'm having episodes of being cold, too. Strange.

I woke at 0530-ish, and dozed back off. I was sleeping good when the phone rang at 0720. The hospital. I had to go in, and float off to a med/surg unit. "Ok", I struggled to say. "It'll take me a little bit, I'm not up yet." I drug myself out of bed. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I didn't feel quite right. In the mud, is what it felt like. My breast feels swollen and is tender, my shoulder aches, the upper arm itches, and yes, my fingers are full this morning. I pushed through, got ready to go, took motrin and tylenol, and headed out.

I did the naughty thing--made phone calls while driving. I called Dr. Bolmer's office to request a prescription for physical therapy. I listened to the options, spoke to a person, who connected me to a recording instructing me to leave a message. So I did. Then I called Rehab to make an appointment with Ike.

The nice lady who answered the phone had an accent that I was unfamiliar with, and I didn't understand her name, but I could kind of tell by the tone of her voice that she was asking me how could she help me. Sheesh. Ok, God, help me listen and hear what she's saying. I told her my name, that I had seen Ike previously, that I have called to have a prescription faxed over to evaluate and treat, and could she check Ike's schedule and fit me in? She put me on hold. After a minute or so, she came back. And, I could understand her. She said Ike is on vacation this week, and she has time open Monday and Tuesday. Monday at 10:00. I'll take it. I'm kind of glad she's on vacation this week, only because I wouldn't have been able to see her if I would have called last week. I thanked the nice lady, relieved to have an appointment.

In Jackson, I found a place to park, pleasantly surprised that it was a block away. I went in, and up to my floor, found Tishia as instructed. She told me that med/surg hadn't gotten back with her yet to know where we were going. (We? Yep-the other 2 girls on-call had to come in, too) She told me to go ahead and clock in, and she'll let us know when she finds out. Ok.

Our census is really low, as we have a couple of OB docs on vacation. I went over to West, that we closed yesterday, and generally tidied up the unit. Stray equipment, supplies, etc. I was almost done when Tish called me. "Med/surg decided they didn't need anyone. You can all go home." Hm. "Thanks for coming in. And I won't be calling you back to come in for them today. You are still on call for us, though." Ok. I finished up my project, clocked out, and remembered I needed to print out a copy of my hospital-based learning stuff for the annual eval, so I looked that up and printed it out. I was in the locker room changing my shoes and getting my purse when the phone rang. It was someone from the Doctor's office clarifying my request for therapy. She told me one of the nurses would call me back. Ok, thanks. I finally made it back home about noon.

I still wasn't feeling just right. I was hungry, and my shoulder and breast are achy. I ate a pb&j sandwich, took more meds (it was time), and talked with Daniel a bit. My phone rang again, Doctor's office again. It was Rose (she was one of my chemo nurses) asking just exactly what I needed. She had read the chart, so she followed what I was saying, and knew what to send over to the rehab place. No problem, she said. Thank you, Rose. About 1:30, I went in and took a nap.

I slept for 2 hours, waking up feeling mostly better. The mud was gone, anyway. My shoulder and breast are still achy. I had some fruit, a bunch of water, Daniel went to his golf league, and I didn't do much at all. Sat out on the deck, read the newspaper, came in, checked the computer, basically not much. And then Dan came back.

We watched some Olympics, and he has drifted off to bed. I'm writing here. Still uncomfortable, and my hand is still tight, even though it doesn't look as puffy tonight.

I hope I feel better tomorrow. I'm surprised at how tired I've been the last couple of days, and how I've been sleeping. I have been alternating between chilled cold and hot, with the chills happening first, then a good warm up. I am also having the "aura" of the sensation that I need to take a big breath, and I often find myself deep breathing, and that's how I know I'm about to be warm. And I've started perspiring, too, with the hot flashes. Across my forehead, the back of my neck, down the middle of my back, and the inside creases of my elbows. Very weird. What a ride, huh? But I'm cancer free, and that's what counts.

I guess I should find a light bite before going to bed. I don't like waking up hungry at 0200...

Thank you for reading. Hugs.