Yes, the treatments, and even the OR time putting the catheters into place, were quite easy. And the promised time lying in bed for three days, flat on my back, was the most difficult, but in ways I could never have imagined.
Naively, I packed a bag full of goodies to occupy my time: Netflix on my iPad, podcasts on my iPhone ready for playing, magazines, my Kindle, even this really cool device my friend Julie lent me that would hold an iPad in place in almost any position for watching things till your heart’s content. But I didn’t use the first item I brought with me...not really even my iPhone for texting.
First, when one’s lying on one’s back, you’re majorly disoriented...and disorientation is exhausting. Then, there’s pain management. I slept most of the time that I wasn’t feeling disoriented. The remainder of my time was spent either trying to eat with my head barely elevated off the pillow, trying not to aspirate my food...or more glamorously....vomiting it back up (thanks disorientation) or wishing my lower back pain would go away.
Yes, I’m complaining. It was miserable. What I thought was going to be merely a challenge of boredom turned into a mixed bag of niggling little medical issues. For that I was in no way prepared.
But, it’s over now, and I’m back home, still tired and napping, relatively comfortable, ready for life to get moving again. I’ll have a follow up appointment with my radiation oncologist in four weeks and a PET scan some time again before the end of the year. Doing the scan now would give false readings from all the inlfammation from the radiation. So, I wait. Again.
One bright and shining star throughout all this was a wonderful weekend in the northeast Georgia mountains with some girlfriends. Four memorable days of hiking, window shopping, wine drinking, hot tubbing, eating whatever claimed our fancy. It was heaven and the perfect tonic before checking into the hospital for those wretched three days.
So, on I trudge, looking forward to the experiences of the coming holidays, trying to live life as it was meant to be lived: one day at a time, whatever it brings.
