Today was discharge day from the hospital. Prior to my discharge, the rounding doc came in and went over the meds. As he went line by line, we found many errors. I’m not sure what had happened, but if we had not written down exactly what meds I had been taking over the past few days, then I would have went home with medication that was outdated by days! It is extremely scary knowing that one always has to second guess the hospital and doctors and make sure that everything is how it should be. I just wonder how people do it that don’t have a family or friend to double check everything.
Being home is a little strange. I have spent 3 out of 4 weeks basically in the hospital. In the past month I have been diagnosed with cancer, had two blood clots and pancreatitis. I actually slept really well in the hospital alone last night and got used to being woken up 3-4 times a night for vitals and blood checks.
Now that I am home, the medication I am on is all by mouth. There is a certain conveience to having a portocath and the meds going directly to the bloodstream. You feel immediate pain relief. With meds by mouth, it takes a full hour even for the “fast acting” drugs to take effect. My body is in a ton of pain right now. It is really difficult to describe, but I guess it feels kind of like having a really sore back with the flu and a sprained ankle. My back is in pain from the cancer and never quite feels comfortable. I walk around like a hunchback, and my posture is horrible. My body feels like it has the flu with all sorts of aches and pains. It almost feels like I have a constant fever/chills and the smallest thing could set me into a deep sickness. My ankle is completely swollen. It really does look like I sprained it. The doctor says it is still the same blood clot and that I should just keep taking the blood thinners and my body will eventually flush out the clot. Both docs that I saw prior to my discharge did not seem to concerned and one even told me that there was no “magic bullet” to getting it fixed back to normal.
I am extremely concerned because I can’t walk. Every step that I take feels like I am ripping my calf muscle. Right now, more than anything I need to be walking and excrcising. I have been laying in a bed for weeks and lost tons of muscle. In order to keep my sanity and help my immune system to tolerate all this chemo I need to incorporate some sort of exercise. My friend Doug did get me some resistance bands that I have been using on occasion to work out my arms. I still need to do something to get in cardio or work out my lungs. I climbed one flight of stairs a couple of weeks ago and almost died. It took me a couple of minutes to regain my breathe. Once I get back into the swing of being home, I’ve got to check into doing some sort of exercising at the Wellness Center or something (geared towards cancer patients).