Hello from home sweet home.
I've been home since Tuesday night, but this is the first time where I've felt centered enough to be able sit down at the computer without having my eyes roll to the back of my head from nausea.
Thanks dgatsoulis for starting this thread. I really appreciate the thoughts and concerns. Even though we don't "know" each other, we have this awesome thing called Orbiter that binds us in a unique way.
When I got home Tuesday evening, I felt awful. I didn't want to do anything except lay down. Just prior to leaving the hospital, I had a
bronchoscopy done. The sedation medication they gave me made feel extremely nauseated after I came out of the daze. It was so bad that I really didn't even want to go home at that point. I wanted to stay another night just to get the sick feeling out of my head, but I was already committed to leaving.
Once I got home and was able to lay down, I was of course glad to be back in my own private, comfortable space again. But without the help of the nurses, the routine of taking medications and checking my vital signs quickly became a real burden during those first couple of days back at home.
I am taking upwards of 30+ pills per day at the moment. In addition to that, I am taking IV antibiotics 3x per day (1 hour per dose.) And I have to check my blood sugar regularly because the anti-rejection medications really screw with your blood sugar levels even if you're not a diabetic.
So my new full time job is just taking care of myself.
Fortunately, the amount of medication I take will trickle off significantly over the coming weeks and months. The antibiotics (pill & IV) are just 10-14 days. I have other meds that, to my understanding, I will have to take for 6 months to 1 year. And the rest are to be taken for life.
With each passing day, things are getting a bit easier as I'm finding a new routine.
Well, that is all for now. The eyes are already starting to zig-zag and roll backwards.
Here is a picture from this morning.
It's not real flattering, I'm looking pretty skeletal at the moment.