My Week at the Hospital

I wanted to tell you a little bit more about what it was like to have a feeding tube. Doctors keep you awake when you have it put in, they try to numb your nose but it really doesn't do anything. The first man to give me my feeding tube asked me why I needed it, then explained that he knows what it's like to have a feeding tube. He had one when he got in a terrible automobile accident. I thought he was very easy to talk to, until he told me that having a feeding tube takes a lot more work than you think. He told me up front that it's not going to be easy to get in my stomach for the first time. He slid the tube through my right nostril which hurt at first then got worse. It was going down further then he told me to try and swallow to try and push it. The farther he went down and the longer he was taking the more I gagged and puked over myself. Finally, they decided to tilt my body since they were having trouble. It seemed like forever until it was over. I was able to clean myself up and be on my way. I never wanted to do that again, it was almost worse than surgery.

The people who delivered my delicious meals (Cans of jevity) told me that if I didn't want my meals coming back up then I couldn't lay back for very long. So when I slept, I couldn't sleep in my nice bed. I slept on my reclining chair at home until the day I had my feeding tube taken out for good. At first it was really easy, but it got really hard to sleep day after day in the reclining chair.

On May 26th I started getting a high fever, I tried taking some medicine to get rid of it but it still came back. My parents started to panic, when I had my chemo class and when we talked to my doctors they always told me to call in if I ever got a fever. We called  saturday night late around 10:00 PM, and they told me to go to the ER. I never thought my illness would get this bad that I would have to be sent to the ER, but here I was waiting till almost 1:00 AM to get a room.

I was enclosed in a "special" room where any nurse or anyone that visited me had to wear a mask for my health. They told me I had to spend the night, then I was spending two night, which turned into four nights staying at the hospital. I was only released for a limited time to get my radiation done. That's not exactly something I would like to be released for. They didn't keep me in the hospital because I had a fever, but because my white blood count was zero. They finally decided to give me a shot that would give me a boost, and it worked! I was FINALLY released on May 31st. I have never been so happy to get home!

Let me back track just a little, before I was able to go home. On the 28th it was late at night when I got a big surprise. I was sweating with all the blankets I had on me, when I was itching my head I caught a big handful of my hair from the back of my head. It was really bothering me having it on my head when it was so loose. My mom was observing, when I was grabbing more and more hair from my head. I couldn't believe how much hair I had, this hair was really bothering me and I had to get it off me! My mom told me to stop yanking my hair out, but I couldn't stop it was bothering my head. It itched and was so sweaty I wanted it off my head. I laughed at her and we took pictures and videos and sent them to my family, I even posted a picture on facebook. My sister told me that when I get out of the hospital, she would shave my head for me since it was bothering me so much. I was anxious for that day to come, which was another reason why I was so happy to get home.