Walking 4th South

 Pictures taken last week after chemo with some of the 4th South amazing nurses!

Because my chemo goes into my abdomen (IP) 2 out of the 3 treatments, I have to have the 2 IP treatments on 4th South which is the Oncology floor.  They put me in a room like I'm a hospital patient for the day and pump fluids in me.  One of these reasons is because I have to roll every 15 minutes for an hour after all the fluids have finished.  Today for some reason or another as I was laying in bed having chemo I started having some awful abdominal pain, mostly on the left side, which radiated up into my left chest and shoulder.  The shoulder and chest pain is due to fluid and air that gets trapped underneath the diaphragm.  The nurse slowed the fluids down, I tried rolling different directions, laying flat and sitting up, but nothing would relieve my pain.  I finally got up to walk which seemed to relieve most of the pain.

When I was in the hospital I walked this floor several times a day with friends, family members, nurses, nieces, cousins, my PCP and massage therapist.  We always walked in a clock wise direction.  Every time we would come to the end of the opposite hallway that my room was in, I would turn my head the other direction, because at that point I would come to the infusion room (AKA Chemo Room).  I hated seeing that room knowing that in the near future I'd have to start chemo.  I would sometimes even cry when I would come to that room, for fear of future chemo treatments.  Today however when I walked the floor I walked counter clockwise and thought of the improvement I have had since those first 15 day's of June.  I have yet to finish my post from that hospital stay and someday will, but it was a hard 15 days that aren't easily put into words.  They were day's that I would never want my worst enemy to live through, day's that made me realize what an amazing, loving family and support system I have, day's that I layed in bed thinking why me, day's where I was treated by the most amazing doctors and nurses which made me want to be a better provider.  Some of those day's I vaguely remember, other day's are day's I'd like to forget. However, as I walked several times a day around 4th South, I became stronger each day as I walked during the middle of the night, early mornings, late afternoons and in the evenings.  Today as I passed room 494 I slightly cringed because of the pain and sickness that I experienced in that room, but as I thought about it more during each lap I realized how truly grateful I am for the peaceful feeling that was always present in that room. 494 was a room of great healing, a room where several prayers where said and answered, a room where many tears were shed and a room where relationships were strengthened. Walking on 4th floor and seeing the many nurses and CNA's that helped me through those 15 day's now brings great happiness to me and to those nurses as they see my progress and encourage me to keep fighting this great battle.