Yay for Efficiency!

This week has been busy and quick. Most important event has been my 4th and 5th IVIG treatments.

I check into hospital Tuesday afternoon at 2:30. I am totally prepared for the long wait before action is taken. As far as environments go, this is not the worst hotel room I've stayed in. I've got a private room, a comfy bed, lots of pillows and an impressive view of the the back of the hospital building.

Room service arrives around 5:30 with my pot roast and asparagus. I enjoy the deliciousness of a dinner I didn't have to cook, the peacefulness of not having to urge my six-year-old to eat the green food on his plate and the guilty feeling that I'm getting away with something by not tipping the food service crew or my medical tech who keeps my water jug ice cold and full.

Pre-hospital gown

Post-hospital gown

I catch a little cable before my mini-get- away is interrupted. It's time to get out of my street clothes and into a gown. The one-size-fits-all gown dwarfs me, my skin gets visibly paler and dark circles under my eyes become more prominent as I change...its like I'm doing a reverse Wonder Woman...Funny how there's nothing more effective at making me look sick than putting on a hospital gown. I unsuccesfully try to get the melancholy, frail-looking, hollow-eyed patient in the mirror to wink back at me.

After the change in attire and mood, it's all business. I get my Pre-medications and an IV in my arm. My immunoglobulin IV is running by 9pm. I'm totally over the frustration of being admitted 6 1/2 hours before any real action is taken.

The Pre-meds take effect, I'm groggy and I sleep soundly, but briefly. The incessant blood pressure cuff squeezes me into definitely-not-asleep mode just as soon as I doze off each time, which feels like every 2 minutes. I realize later that its actually set to retest every 15 minutes.

The nurse informs me by normally super low (90s/60s) blood pressure is high enough to require medication (180/120) and this means the every 15 minute jarring arm squeeze will continue.

Between infusions, I get a 2 hour cat-nap break from the relentless cuff, and my second treatment is set to finish by 9:45am. I eat, wash up, brush my teeth and get dressed while the infusion is finishing up. (Years of IV experience have provided me the uber-exclusive secrets of how to get this done while IV connected.) The agreeable nurse removes my IV promptly, hands me my Pre-written discharge papers(Yay for efficiency!), and I scoot out the hospital doors at by 10am.

All in all, this was a great hospital visit. I saw no doctors, received no bad news, wasn't delayed in leaving, and got a parvo-eliminating treatment to boot!

I start my day, checking off the regular boxes of things I need to get done. I feel slow and tired for most of the day, but by the end of it, removing my arm band and bandage is all that's necessary to make the fact that I spent the evening in the hospital completely transparent.