Getting Settled at Home - Part 1 - September 28-29

Once we finally got out of the hospital, how nice it was to be "home" with Denise's parents. It took so long to get discharged from the hospital, that I should have ordered lunch while we waited. The main problem at the hospital with meals is that it takes about 45 minutes to get the food you ordered. However, not eating until mid-afternoon got my system messed up. Only I did not realize how much until later.

I decided that, because I was going to be losing my hair and because I really needed a haircut anyway, that Denise's sister Donna should just shave my head right away. So that afternoon, she came over after work and did just that. We all kind of liked the result, which I did not expect. Here are some pictures of the process:

It was very surprising to see myself without hair, as you can tell from my response in this video:

It was so nice to get settled in a recliner in my in-law's basement - which will be my bed for some time to come. And the recliner just happens to be "my" old recliner that they bought from us when we moved to Ukraine in 2010, so it feels like "home" to me. Denise planned on how to set up a small family room area for us in the basement, working to create "our" own space separate from her parents. There is great wisdom in that, especially since I will need to be separate from them because of chemo much of the time anyway.

I was overwhelmed with gratefulness for God's goodness, grace, and care during the last 11 days in the hospital. And glad to be "home".

One thing that I noticed is that I was absolutely freezing. I must have had a low-grade temperature, but I could not get warm. Hat on my head. Layers. Sweatshirt. Blankets. Not fun. And probably a lot was related to poor circulation because of the lymphoma in my body.

But that evening I just felt "off". I took the anti-nausea medicine, though probably not soon enough. So many new feelings and trying to figure out what was going on in my body. I was exhausted when we went to bed, but did not sleep at all that night. Instead, I used the time to set up the Facebook group for sharing my medical journey (to help Denise out, since she is not a technology person) and to get this blog set up and started, not wanting to bother Denise in the middle of the night (which turned out to be worse, because she could not go back to sleep). Because I wanted to get those things done, I had the time, and no one else was around, I made good progress and it was a productive night. Just not very restful.

At first, I was thinking my inability to sleep was the effects of the chemo or not feeling quite right. But as time passed into Tuesday, I realized that it was actually difficult for me to breathe. And my breathing was becoming more labored.

As I talked to Denise that afternoon, we called the hotline at the hospital. As a result of that conversation, we decided that my breathing was bad enough that we needed to call 911. I had been home less than 26 hours.

Calling 911 was a first for us. Soon we had first responders and then an ambulance there. I was breathing more than 45 times per minute (that is pretty labored breathing) and could only speak a few words before I needed to breathe again. They checked my vitals, asked lots of questions (every new person asks the same ones as the others plus a few more), and then were ready to take me.

Because I was in the basement, and because I was able, with effort, to climb the stairs myself, I had mercy on my father-in-law, so he did not need to worry about the gurney scratching the stairway walls. I walked outside and got on the stretcher, where they strapped me in, then loaded me into the ambulance.

It looks like my getting settled at home is going to have to wait just a bit longer.