Back Home

OK. So, I'm out of the hospital and back home. I'm also exhausted because I
a. hate sleeping in hospitals, especially on beds that move
b. had horrible nightmares last night. Don't ask about what...you don't want to know.
c. Had to wait an additional 5 hours to start the discharge work, because the doctor on call was late. Really late.

However, I am out and I am grateful.
As far as the hospital stay went, it was a little surreal. I had a head CT, a chest CT, 2 chest X-rays and an EKG. Not mention, gave tons of blood, and other bodily fluids that I won't go into right now. All to have the doctor's come back and say. "Yes, you have pneumonia, but there is nothing that we can do about it in the hospital that you couldn't do at home. So go away."

I get the feeling that they could sense how much I didn't want to be there. So, now I'm home and on lots of meds. Apparently we have to watch me to make sure I don't get worse. I'd say watch me to make sure I get better, but I never felt bad so, that's not a great barometer.
I see doctor Ahmed next week, until then I'm just going about life like normal.

I'll keep you updated.
-Elizabeth

Do you want the good news, or the bad news?

So, bright and early this morning....OK, not so bright...me or the morning. Mom and I got in the car and braved the Taconic and flooding for a 9 AM PET scan at Westchester Medical Center. Tired and wet, we made our way into the offices and were scanned with out delay. (Mostly because everyone else cancelled cause they were unable to get through the floods.)
Anyway, mom and I went out for an early lunch because my appointment was not until 2:30.
After we got back to the office, we spent a couple of hours waiting. A few minutes giving blood, and then three seconds of calm before Dr. Ahmed scared the crap out of us.
He comes back upstairs after looking at my scans and says, "You always like to defy my clinical work." Or something along those lines. So...cue the brief moments of terror.
"The good news is there is no sign of the lymphoma. It is dead. It is deader then dead."
Mom and I collectively sigh in relief.
"The bad news is you have a touch of pnemonia in your left lung and I'm admitting you to the hospital for treatment."
I think he hates me.
After arguing for 10 minutes and then violently raging for 20, (not to mention 5 minutes of threatening physical harm if he didn't let me go home) I finally excepted my fate. And after several frantic phone calls, consultations and one trip from Katrina and Chuck to bring me some things from home....I am once again blogging from a hospital room...(two doors down from my old room.) I am actually not blogging, for some reasong I can't get on to the blog and this is being posted by email, through Katrina. Mom will also be contributing to this email, to let you know the out-comes of the card contest.
So, that is really all I know until I talk to the Infectious Disease Specialist tomorrow.
For now...
this is one very pissed off and really cranky Elizabeth
Hope your day was better than mine

Public Service Announcement from Mom
(...and a thank you to Elizabeth for allowing me to use the blog)

On Saturday, April 7, Elizabeth, three of her sisters, 2 brothers-in-law, 4 first cousins and 1 second cousin (over the age of 18) sat at my dining room table and poured over 125 cards received by Elizabeth at the hospital. I'd like to thank everyone who mailed her a card and especially those of you who rose to the challenge of searching for the "funniest" card that you could find. The entries were hysterical and not only did Elizabeth and her family enjoy them, but so did the entire staff of the transplant unit at WMC. It also served to decorate the awful green walls of her room. So after a number of glasses of wine to put everyone into the right frame of mind (?), and much jocularity (a word I learned on MASH once used by Father Mulcahey), the judges selected the following cards as winners:
Werner & Martha Brandt - Card pictured patient laying in bed day after day (Remember?)
Joe & Marge Wrobel - Flasher with the baby carrotts and tomatoes (Ah, baby carrots)
Julie - Squirrel (Memories of Gettysburg college)
Jennifer Kiederer - Lady at the Salad Bar
Lisa Christensen - Girls on the Beach with Thongs (Oh, my)
So now you can all let your imaginations run wild and the five winners should await a small prize being sent in the mail. Again our thanks to you all.