PDR Update: What of the Illness?

Last time on PDR Update: I had been released from the hospital and was healing up after some lung stuff.

Phase Wherever I Was

After getting out of the hospital, I went through a week or so of days that blur together almost as much as the hospital stay. I got back to the apartment, sure, but I was pretty limited in what I could do. Eventually I finally got the dressing on my back changed to one that allowed me to shower. That was a really big deal for me. I missed showering. I got shaved, I got a haircut, I got new shoes. Many things that made me feel more human again. I still needed (and still do as of this writing) to be home every day for a time period so I can get my antibiotics injections, but mostly I have freedom. Because I still couldn’t do much, the days were still long and boring.

Sunday April 23

This was the first night when I tried to work It was a busier night than I was hoping it would be. Students are still in town. When they are gone, things’ll slow down. Unfortunately, as a delivery person, part of my job involves lifting things and I have been warned that, for three more weeks, I am not supposed to lift more than ten pounds at a time. I don’t actually know how much ten pounds is, but it doesn’t sound like much. I probably did lift more than that on a couple occasions during the night, but you know who can’t afford three more weeks of not working? The guy who has already missed about a month’s worth of shifts because of this crap.

Monday April 24

Well, when I woke up on Monday I sure did have fresh blood around the base of my PICC Line. It wasn’t a lot, but it did make me more nervous about lifting things. The warning about weight, I thought, was supposed to be about not wanting to open the tube-hole in my back that goes to my lungs, but I guess I have to worry about the tube in my arm that travels through my veins to my heart as well. Figures.

Tuesday April 25

I can’t remember if anything in particular happened on Tuesday. But since I can’t remember what day I started thinking “Being sick involves more running errands than I would have thought,” so I’ll put it in the Tuesday section. Doing things like picking up more antibiotics forces me out in the daytime hours and has complicated my efforts to put myself back on my proper nocturnal schedule. Adding to the problem is that I have to be home for the antibiotics treatments, so I’ve only got the windows between my waking up and the treatment and between my treatment and when things close to get out there. Oh well. I am pro-antibiotics if they are what is killing my infection.

Wednesday April 26

This night, I also worked. I am told that it was the last day for students to be in town, so it may be easier from this point on, but it was still decently busy. I did at one point ask a cook to help me carry my bag to the car, so I was probably being more sensible. That may be why I did not wake up with any new blood having leaked from my arm the next day.

Thursday April 27

Today being two weeks from my release from the hospital, I had to go to a walk-in clinic for a visit to the waiting room, followed by a brief checkup with a doctor. I was told that I am “on the road to recovery” which is certainly good to know. I was less happy to learn that my left lung is still not getting the air it should be. I had been living under the assumption that as soon as I was drained and released from hospital, I was back in the ol’ two-lung club, but I guess it is going to take some time. Basically that means that all the extra energy I thought I had now and had attributed to getting more oxygen or whatever was a placebo effect. I am still not getting that extra oxygen. Gimme that oxygen!

But anyway, I am still getting those daily antibiotics. They’ll kill the infection and I’ll get that lung open for me. Sure they will.

  1. Re: Ten pounds of weight.

    Well, a pound (lb) is a bit less than half a kilogram. A litre of water weighs about a kilogram. So, if fizzy drinks like Coca-Cola or lemonade are sold in two litre bottles in Canadialand, as they are in the UK, two of those full bottles together are about the weight you can “safely” lift.

    [If they are sold in different quantities, of course adjust accordingly]

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