I knew it was going to be a challenging day on
Thursday when I woke up with a hint of a headache and then stubbed my toe on
the bed. Ouch!
I walked from the bedroom to the living room and I
looked down to discover that I was dragging assorted items along with
me. I have 50 ft. of oxygen tubing hooked up to my concentrator so
I’m not restricted when I’m moving around and sometimes it tends to curl
around itself in odd places. I often snag bits and bobs on the
floor and give them some exercise by taking them for a little walk with me.
This particular day I managed to pick up a red Christmas bow the cat likes
to play with, a good size chunk of the dogs rawhide and one pink slipper.
I think that was a new record for me to snag three things in one trip
down the hall. *grin* Talented huh?
We had to go to TGH which I wasn’t looking
forward to considering that the roads were slippery with icy
patches. As a result, the traffic was slow-going and heavy and the trip
took almost twice as long as normal. Just to add to the fun, I realized
that I didn’t have my health card or my hospital card with me. When we
finally got to the hospital, we got a new blue hospital card made up which
hopefully would be enough just for the day since it has my OHIP
number on it.
We took a little breather and sat down and enjoyed
a coffee and a muffin to fortify us. Next, we headed to the lab where I
was told they didn’t have a record of any blood work being ordered for me so I
had to take care of that first and then I was finally able to get
the the blood work done. From there we headed to physio where
I spent the next hour and a half struggling to complete the
workout. I kept getting too winded and had to stop several times on
the treadmill so I ended up cutting my treadmill time short by about 4
minutes. I managed to complete the full time on the
stationary bike and I did all my stretches both with and
without the weights. When I was finished with physio,
Eric and I went for lunch compliments of my sister Kathy who gave us a
gift card for the Subway in the hospital food court.
After lunch the day started to improve. We
went back up to 12th floor where I arrived very early for my
appointment with the palliative doctor to discuss medications. We had
quite a wait to see her but we met several people who were also waiting and we
ended up having a very pleasant chat with them. It’s so great to
hear other people’s stories too, to be inspired by their experiences and to
learn the various ways people cope. When it was finally time for me to
see the doctor, she genuinely eased most of my concerns around medication
issues by the information she gave me and the knowledgeable answers she
had to my questions. She explained in easy to understand language but did
not rush us, or talk to us in a patronizing manner and I respected that about
her. As we were leaving we passed the physio room and I saw Pamela who
writes one of the blogs I follow so I stopped in to meet her and say
hello. It was great to say hi in person. The trip home was slower
than normal but not as bad as the morning commute. We had a light
supper and it wasn’t long before I was yawning and ready for bed.
Now I gotta tell you, falling asleep after such a
hectic day was such a pleasant experience that I just have to write about it
and share it with everyone. When I finally crawled between the sheets, it
felt like heaven and I just let go of the day’s tension and completely
relaxed. I closed my eyes and marvelled at all the sensations I was
feeling. My feather pillows fit just right under my shoulders and head, I
enjoyed how soft and supportive the mattress felt under me and the foam topper
on our mattress kind of conformed to my shape; the duvet felt so good and
warmed me just right as I pulled it up around my neck. Even my oxygen
mask didn’t bother me and I don’t think it took more than 10 minutes till I was
sound asleep.
The best part is that I managed to sleep the entire night
without waking once.
It was
a pretty good ending to a day that started off kinda rocky.
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