This is really boring

From my perspective, it's been an eventful day (and prior night) but this might bore y'all to death. I slept great last night. Nurse Susan kept me comfortable with pain killers and mouth numbers all night. She is my nurse again tonight so I do expect to sleep good tonight.

This morning my list of questions for the doctor included complaints about my left arm. It acts like a rotator cuff problem but is painful from time to time. Rotator cuff because I can't raise my arm. If I lift it up with my other arm I can use it over my head (like to wash my hair that has begun to fall out) but that's not always possible.

Today's nurse, Marla, was sitting in just the right angle this morning to see both arms and noticed some swelling around my elbow in my left arm. This sore arm problem has come up more than once on the agenda since I've been in hospital. And after an ultra sound this afternoon we know there are not one but two blood clots in the vein with my PICC line. I don't know if I mentioned here how much trouble the nurse had getting this line in, but it took over an hour and was very uncomfortable. That procedure and the ultrasound today are the most painful procedures I've had during the last year, mostly because the discomfort/pain lasted so long.

Don't have a solution for this yet. Marla says they will probably put a line in my chest. Ugh. On the other hand, it will make getting dressed easier. I'll be able to wear things with long sleeves. Gotta look on the bright side.

My blood oxygen level has been dicey over the last 24 hours so I asked for blood even though my hemoglobin count was 6.1 (the threshold is 6.0) I got blood but I'm still having trouble drawing a deep breath. I thought this was because my throat and neck are so swollen, and perhaps it is, but it also raises the pneumonia flag. So walk more and do the breathing toy more...which reminds me I never posted a picture of that thing for you. This worries me the most. This relies most on my body and least on the skill of my treaters.

I've had several visits from food people today. The nutritionist because I'm down to only what goes through a straw. Two from food service people because some of the folks who work down there are orangutans. Most of the ones I interact with are and I no longer bother trying to get the right thing; I just ask the nurses here on the floor for what I need.

Let's see, the pain person came in. Mom came down early this morning and brought me a protein shake for breakfast because the shakes here in the hospital all have some dairy in them (which surprised the nutritionist.) Suzanne stopped by just as I was falling asleep after the ultrasound.

My final conclusion this afternoon was to get up and walk. Sitting in my room feeling sorry for myself is getting me nowhere. Prayers and/or positive thoughts for the lung expansion. I have to be able to draw deep breaths to keep the bottoms of my lungs expanded so no pneumonia can take up residence.

Dr. Abhyankar coyly says "couple more days" when I ask anything like "how long til the mouth sores heal?" or "when can I go home?" or "when will we know the answer to ...?"

So couple more days folks.
Cathi