My New Place (But I Would Rather Live with Connie)

   So this is home..my temporary place of residence...for the next month or so.  You do not see me in the bed because I was probably in the bathroom relieving myself when Connie took the picture. The nurses are constantly monitoring my vital signs (so far so good) and pumping the fluids into me and that means...well, you know what that means.  I am most likely behind that door on the left side of the photo -- that is where I spent much of my day.  Today was the first full day that I was here on 5C in Butterworth Spectrum Hospital and it included a different form of chemo that really gave me a headache and caused me to be exhausted.  But the nurses warned me that would happen.  And it did.  Oh well...a little discomfort is to be expected.  One logistical challenge that will be different is that for the next  three weeks my catheter will be connected to the lines that get hung up on a pole.  Anywhere I go, the pole goes with me.  I take a walk...I take the pole.  I watch television...the pole watches with me.  I go to the bathroom...the pole supervises my actions.  I sleep...I will stay connected to the pole via the umbilical-like bond that we now share.  He has already earned several labels ("The Tower of Power" or "My Tall Pole-ish Friend" or "My Go-Pole" or "The Statue of Non-Liberty") but no one name has actually stuck.  I do know that it is a "he" because I would never take a woman to some of the places I have to take him.  It all reminds me of a dumb joke:  Q: Who was Alexander Graham Bell Pulaski?  A: The first telephone Pole.

   So what will happen in the near future?  More chemo for the next four days and then in one week the docs will hang a bag on the pole that has little pieces of me in it -- my own stem cells.  They were harvested from my blood stream on May 1 and have taken a little three-week vacation from being in my body to spend some time in a cooler at West Michigan Blood.  Now that they are well rested, they should be ready to do their jobs again.  I am obligated to stay on this floor for the duration of my stay.  If I leave my room, I must be gowned and masked and gloved.  I can have visitors if they have not been sick in the last couple of weeks and if they do not stay too long.  But each day I am here is one day closer to finishing this journey.  It's all just temporary, so let's get it done.