Friday, April 30, 2010

"Bored is Good"

The doctors and nurses coming through my room who look me over and check my signs all say the same thing: "bored is good". Compared to my last extended stay here at the UofC Hospitals, I can agree, but my mind compared to then is far more alert and my body certainly feels much, much stronger. I can get out of bed without help, for starters. i can walk down the hall and take rides on the stationary bike, too, but getting out of bed and spinning a wheel for any period of time doesn't take away the feeling of boredom. It must be time for me to work on being a patient patient.
My lab results as of this morning mark me as Neutropenic as my platelet count went below 50 (42) and my WBC fell to 0.9. The White Blood Count surprises me, because I started receiving the shots that are meant to spur on the growth of more WBC, but I was told today that would take nearly a week. I should have realized that from the treatment my sister Jeanne went through and so I will have to just wait for my counts to get back to the normal person range. While I count the days, of course.
My friends are still amazing me with their kindness and outpouring of affection. I've had a nice small stream of close friends bringing me foods I love (today i had pork chop sammich from Maxwell Street. Damn good) and keeping me entertained as well as can be entertained in this 12 x 10 box. If I didn't have my friends, I would have lost my mind a few days ago, even though the staff in the hospital try and keep us patients happy (i.e., the pina coloda smoothie I'm sucking down from the afternoon ice cream cart while i type), because I am just not accustomed to waiting for things to happen. I much rather prefer to poke sticks in the fire and raise more flames. Perhaps i will start poking at things next week if I get stir crazy. For right now, however, I will adhere to the mantra of all the medical professionals in charge of my health and myself and just repeat "Bored is Good". It's gotta beat the agony of tubes in every orifice and complete muscle atrophy, yeah?

6 comments:

  1. Well at least no wondering how you're faring b/c the blog gets updated regularly with boredom :) You always amaze me at the random knowledge you have...can you learn about any new random topics? See if those Teach yourself a foreign language tapes in 7 days tapes work? Jamie

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  2. BARBARA & PATRICK KERRIGAN ( MOM & DAD)May 3, 2010 at 9:49 PM

    Dear Mark and Leslie, There is not a day that goes by that we do not think of the two of you.sending our prayers out to you ! keep strong, and keep on fighting ! love you both MOM & Dad, Barb & Pat Kerrigan

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  3. So glad to hear you're bored! That's a good sign! Am coming by tomorrow to see your smiling face, let me know if there's anything in particular you need or are hungry for!

    Much love and support, ginny

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  4. Hey Mark - I'm kind of glad you're bored because that means you're writing, so I can come out and read what's gong on w/you. Glad that you're progressing. Looking forward to reading more!

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  5. Glad you're bored of kickin butt.-

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  6. you're in the home stretch my friend! i can't wait to see your smiling healthy face!!! xoxo amy s.

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