15: Oncology, 9NE

I luckily was awarded a single room on the oncology floor. What isnt fortunate is we have to be right next to the command center for every alarm in the hospital. Constant beeps and bells. Oh well. Its about 0800 and even though I slept all day yesterday, im just getting up. The morning is spent meeting my new nurses and having a little breakfast, which consisted of a bagel and some cream cheese. Not that I could taste it. Overnight my tongue grew green hair. Like if you havnt brushed your teeth in 3 months accumulation of plaque on top of my tongue, that was Lady liberty green and tasted awful. You can try to brush it off but at this point my mouth hurts so bad, I only manage to get a little bit off.

We play the waiting game until the staff makes their rounds. That happened around 11 and its now 1230. When I spoke with the resident this morning, we agreed to do yesterdays chemo today so we didnt miss a dose. I was able to poop a bit which was nice. If you've never been constipated before and I dont think I ever have, its such an odd pain/cramp/bloated feeling.

Its now almost 3, we finally figured out how to order hospital food since nobody bothered to explain that when we got to the room, got packed up because once chemo was done, they said I could go home and boy was I ready to be home. Well we wait, and wait and wait, and its now dinner time. We agreed to chemo at 1230 and havent heard or seen anyone other than the CA for vitals and the nurse to administer meds. Short of a temper tantrum I hit every call bell and get to the bottom of this. After speaking my piece, we get chemo started around 6 and it finished shortly before 11. They try to get me to stay another night for no real reason that I can discern. So I ask to speak to whoever is making these asinine decisions. I have cancer, and Im receiving chemo, lets not make this more miserable than we have to. The doc comes in, I make my case and i get discharged before midnight. They advise that they had to move my Nulasta shot appointment to Monday because of the hospital stay.

This was eye opening for me. Im comfortable speaking to the hospital staff, regardless of your scrub or coat color. But for most people reading this, you're not. Anyone who goes through some major medical like this, my advice is to SPEAK UP. You have to, ask questions, hold people accountable, your time is valuable too. You're paying for it. So talk to that doctor, make them come show their face, the fresh air might be good for them.

Im craving a McDonalds cheeseburger on the way home, the second time this week actually, so we hit Mickey D's and I get not 1 but 2 cheeseburgers, arrive home and turn in.