Discharged!

So yesterday's overnight stay at Stanford was pretty uneventful.  I got admitted at 2 in the afternoon.  They put me on hydration fluids for four hours to make sure the BCNU drug would constantly be flushed from my system via frequent urination.  At around 10pm they started the BCNU drug.  Praise God, I didn't feel any of the facial pain / intense headaches they described.  Rather, it felt more like a warm buzz / fogginess similar to how I feel after drinking wine.

Sleeping at the hospital is a bit challenging.  The nurses came in every couple of hours to check my vitals.  At 4am, the fire alarms went off for 10 minutes.  I also didn't know how to turn off the lights in the room, but I asked the nurse at 5am when she checked in on me.  Apparently the room was also set to 60 degrees, and I didn't know I could request to turn it up.  It wasn't until a new nurse came in shivering did the thermostat get adjusted.  It wasn't all bad though; I had my own room which was a huge blessing.  Also, my buddy Jon visited as his mom had an appointment at Stanford at the same time.

Anyway, they sent me home with the rolling backpack filled with 4 liters of hydration fluids.  They'll be sending roughly four liters of fluid through my body for the next three days or so.  I can't wait to see how much water weight I put on.  :)

Tomorrow I'll be doing the Melphalan drug.  It should be a two hour infusion which most people tolerate pretty well.  However, several days after the Melphalan, I should feel like I've "been hit by a truck", according to my nurse.  We'll see how it goes.

Today's nurse again said I'm an extreme case of handling treatment really well.  I told her I felt totally normal this morning and that I could probably go for a jog if I wanted.  She said that most people are pretty run down after the BCNU.  I think this is a huge answer to everyone's prayers, so thanks for faithfully upholding me.  Keep 'em coming.  :)

-b