Hi everyone, writing my first message (in a while anyway) from my Mom’s apartment. Yes I am still out of hospital and figured I would touch base to give you all a “heads up” on what lies ahead for me. I have my first outpatient clinic visit tomorrow, these visits will be twice a week for the first week and will then be scaled back to once a week, once every two weeks, etc, based on my progress. The clinic days will probably be a full day event, as I give blood at 9:00 to have my levels checked, then head to clinic for my appointment, which is where much of my time will be spent… waiting more anything I’m sure. From there the afternoon will be saved for any tests, blood transfusions, etc that are necessary to get me through the next few days. Present plans are to be in Toronto for about another month, but we will take it a day at a time and hopefully have my expectations refined in clinic when I meet with the Doc’s.
As for my time of freedom I figured I would write a little list of my “firsts in a month” to let you know how my first couple of days out went, and of course to continuously remind everyone to appreciate the BIG and little things that we often take for granted. So in no particular order here are some of the things I took pleasure in during the past few days:
– Steak, chicken, and pork roast dinners cooked at home with lots of gravy (on the last two)
– sleep-ins, as I had no 6:00 a.m. wake up calls for vitals, blood and my weight
– being able to go to the fridge whenever I wanted – outside air, even if it was smoggy
– walks that were more than the length of myself – wearing clothes all day, instead of my usual hospital uniform of boxers and a T-shirt
– making phone calls without having to “dial 9″ first
Of course after spending over a month in hospital you do become accustomed to some of the things a hospital has to offer, such as :
– strange women entering your room at all hours of the night asking me to pull up my shirt, to draw blood from my Hickman
– having a bed that can sit me up with the push of a button
– Attention with the touch of my call bell – unlimited supply of Popsicle’s and chocolate milk
All in all I am much more content on the “outside” and certainly plan to stay “here” as long as I can. Ordinarily I would write much more extensive lists, but I am low on energy today, just know that I had a great couple of days which is probably why I’m running a little low today.
Fuzzy head,
Geoff
#4
