DAY 23 - 011807
GOOOOOOD MORNING! I've been up since 4am, It's 6am now. I had an Ambien at midnite, so I'm a little groggy but otherwise OK. My mental focus is clearing and I'm feeling that I am once again in the driver's seat.... not that anyone should allow me to drive anything other than an IV tree.
I've been able to by-pass the Lasix for 2 consecutive check-points. As long as my overall pee-output is greater than my fluid-input I win a reprieve. The discomfort and constant hassle of the ritual of peeing every 5-10 minutes makes you think of "stuffing the ballot box" with tap water and spit. {NOTE TO DR. ANN: I wasn't that smart when it mattered.} Now I'm feeling like I really have beaten the system with my own good internal plumbing system.
We often accept changes to our bodies, such as the greying of hair, the slowing of our processing abilities, and how fast we move - compared to how fast we want to. For me it's my fingers. Now, I've met people whose fingers are curled fully into the palms of their hands. I'm no where near that degree of restriction. Neither am I complaining. For me, the limitations are gradual and interesting:
My poker buddies remember when I had trouble shuffling cards. One of them, Bob, found a auto card shuffler and I used that for many months. Once that became even a slight challenge (and they stopped forgiving that I would occasionally leave a card in the machine and we would play a round of games with 51 cards) they started to pre-shuffle my deal. [Hey - whats a couple of undetected misdeals, among friends.]
My fingers have curled in slightly more on the right hand, than my left. Because of that I think that my ability to hold and throw a softball is going to be permanently impaired (unless I get hand surgery which is not in my plans). Therefore - I announce to mt teammates that my rehab assignment this spring will be to teach myself to throw and catch left handed.
OK - so this isn't exactly like learning to paint masterpieces with my toes, or even to learn how to live without eye-sight like my best friend John is currently doing. It's just me taking baby steps, to keep loving to live.
2 minor set backs:
a) My blood sugar is up to 289. This is not unexpected, as the steroids I'm taking affect the pancreas [and don't do a thing for my my home run production!!!]. That, in turn limits insulin and - WALAH! - I get an insulin shot later today. Increases in blood sugar, increases risk of infection. This I learned from, my son, Jayme who has Type-1 Diabetes.
b) My fluid intake exceeded my output by more than 1100ml which meant that they had to give me the dreaded Lasix. From 2pm-4pm I'm peeing every 5 minutes and crampy.
AS I WRITE THIS: Amy, my nurse, just disconnected the lines for my fluids!!! The chest lines remain in place for the Transplant - Tomorrow at 8am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This posting is done... stay tuned... film @ 11.........
Thank you "tropicalkaren" (a 6 yr cancer survivor, who commented on last lites post) - You gave me something to help shape my new perspective.
I've been able to by-pass the Lasix for 2 consecutive check-points. As long as my overall pee-output is greater than my fluid-input I win a reprieve. The discomfort and constant hassle of the ritual of peeing every 5-10 minutes makes you think of "stuffing the ballot box" with tap water and spit. {NOTE TO DR. ANN: I wasn't that smart when it mattered.} Now I'm feeling like I really have beaten the system with my own good internal plumbing system.
We often accept changes to our bodies, such as the greying of hair, the slowing of our processing abilities, and how fast we move - compared to how fast we want to. For me it's my fingers. Now, I've met people whose fingers are curled fully into the palms of their hands. I'm no where near that degree of restriction. Neither am I complaining. For me, the limitations are gradual and interesting:
My poker buddies remember when I had trouble shuffling cards. One of them, Bob, found a auto card shuffler and I used that for many months. Once that became even a slight challenge (and they stopped forgiving that I would occasionally leave a card in the machine and we would play a round of games with 51 cards) they started to pre-shuffle my deal. [Hey - whats a couple of undetected misdeals, among friends.]
My fingers have curled in slightly more on the right hand, than my left. Because of that I think that my ability to hold and throw a softball is going to be permanently impaired (unless I get hand surgery which is not in my plans). Therefore - I announce to mt teammates that my rehab assignment this spring will be to teach myself to throw and catch left handed.
OK - so this isn't exactly like learning to paint masterpieces with my toes, or even to learn how to live without eye-sight like my best friend John is currently doing. It's just me taking baby steps, to keep loving to live.
2 minor set backs:
a) My blood sugar is up to 289. This is not unexpected, as the steroids I'm taking affect the pancreas [and don't do a thing for my my home run production!!!]. That, in turn limits insulin and - WALAH! - I get an insulin shot later today. Increases in blood sugar, increases risk of infection. This I learned from, my son, Jayme who has Type-1 Diabetes.
b) My fluid intake exceeded my output by more than 1100ml which meant that they had to give me the dreaded Lasix. From 2pm-4pm I'm peeing every 5 minutes and crampy.
AS I WRITE THIS: Amy, my nurse, just disconnected the lines for my fluids!!! The chest lines remain in place for the Transplant - Tomorrow at 8am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This posting is done... stay tuned... film @ 11.........
Thank you "tropicalkaren" (a 6 yr cancer survivor, who commented on last lites post) - You gave me something to help shape my new perspective.
posted by DesktopDavid at 5:55 AM
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