IV changing, canasta game, fat counts in chicken

December 5, 2023

Ok, so so far today has kinda been a failure in terms of getting meaningful photos of the day. I’m just about to be transferred to a different building, and figured I’d just get some photos onto my computer. Today, I did my spine MRI, which took about three hours. For this one, I fell asleep much more than I was expecting to. That makes sense since I was up a bit past midnight last night and then they woke me up around 5 or 6 for some labs. Getting to the actual day, I’ve literally got a photo of my IV while I nurse was working on it and changing the dressing, for some reason. And then I’ve also got a photo from when we left the room to go to the cafeteria today. At the cafeteria today, it is the FIRST place I’ve ever been that actually had little cards printed out for nutrition facts for every item on the menu. Makes sense, since it’s Mayo Clinic and all. For my lunch, I tried a chimichurri mushroom bowl that needed a piece of chicken added to it to reach the needed fat, and that’s what I have the picture of. It says that piece of chicken had four grams, and I used that in addition to my bowl. We also picked up an extra, the teriyaki salmon bowl, for me to have with my night meds much later. 

We went back to the room, and then had wonderful chats with two of my nurses, who were named Elizabeth and Natasha. Natasha said she also liked photos and she showed us collections of pictures she’d taken of moss that was lit interestingly when outside. I actually gave them both copies of my photo of the day blog, and gave Natasha one of my actual photography cards too. After the MRI, I also called Open Door to tell them that I wouldn't be in tonight, and probably not Thursday night either. I talked to a lady named Pam who I’ve worked with, and she said she’d let the bosses now. She must have, because later on, Veronica emailed me and wished me luck on the surgery and said she’d taken me off the schedule. 

Anyways, then some more doctors came in and I’m not gonna summarize every note I took on things they said. The important thing is that some hematology doctor said that they’d try to have a plan by tomorrow. Around that point was also when we learned that they’ll actually be moving me to a different room tonight since neurosurgery is based in a different building. They say that if I went with my dad, they’d have to discharge and readmit me, so I’m waiting for an ambulance to take me. It’s been hours. That’s where I am now! The other cool thing is that I was able to take a shower tonight, which makes me quite glad I came here with my gym bag, which has shampoo, conditioner and changes of underclothes. 

Ok, next day now, and thank God I wrote this yesterday, even if I didn’t post it. When I wrote this it had been hours waiting, and then it actually was til like 3am before they picked me up. The guys who picked me up were named Reo, Cole and Mike. Had a good convo with Mike in the back seat, I think, even though technically it happened on the 6th, not the 5th.