Last Locations-
Washington, DC: April 3 - May 22, 2012
Miami, FL: May 22, 2012
Grenada, The Caribbean: May 23 - June 2, 2012
Miami, FL: June 2, 2012
Washington, DC: June 2 - June 7, 2012
Boston, MA: June 7, 2012
Wolfsboro, NH: June 7 - June 10, 2012
Boston, MA: June 10, 2012
New York, NY: June 10 - June 14, 2012
Washington, DC: June 14 - June 30, 2012
Stone Harbor, NJ: June 30 - July 8, 2012
New York, NY: July 8 - July 9, 2012
Present Location-
Washington, DC: July 9 - August 14, 2012*
Next Locations-
Tucson, AZ: August 14 - August 18, 2012*
Boulder, CO: August 18 - August 22, 2012*
Washington, DC: August 22 - August 25, 2012*
Barcelona, Spain: August 2012 - December 2012
*Tentative
It has been 11 days since I had my spleen removed. I had intended to write from the hospital, and had in fact started writing, but the constant flow of intravenous pain medication rendered me into a dreamlike state from which the inhibition to not stop writing was alleviated.
Hospitals are interesting places. They are like hotels in that they contain rooms away from home where your sheets are cleaned for you. They are like jails in that you are not allowed to leave without the permission of the medical authorities. They are like insane asylums in that you are surrounded by a bunch of other equally drugged up people who moan at various intervals throughout the day, and night. They are like luxury resorts in that everything you want or need is brought to you at the push of a button. I can get someone to deliver me food, snacks, drinks, plug in my computer, hand me my bag, search for my iphone. They are like the future in that I don’t have to lift my hand or lower my head to drink. A machine plugged into a vein on my arm takes care of my hydration needs.
As a general rule, hospitals and I do not get along. I have a (only slowly diminishing) fear of blood, needles, and sitting in one place for long periods of time. They had to try twice to insert my IV, which meant four sticks because they insisted in inserting a numbing solution before each try. "This IV is bigger than the ones you’re used to." I was under a few minutes later so none of it really mattered much.
I was released last Monday morning, in time to make it to my 9:30am Spanish class which meets for three hours a day, Monday through Friday. I’ve managed to mostly carry on with my daily life. I commute 35 minutes each way to class every day by bus, I meet friends out for meals, I go to movies. The doctors didn’t offer a ton of guidance for what to and not to do. So I go by what hurts. If it hurts, I try to avoid it.
The worst part has been the medication. The pill they gave me to cure the pain causes nausea. The pill they gave me to cure the nausea causes constipation. The pill suggested to cure that causes more pain. And no cure is absolute, so at the end of it I am left with a little mix of pain, nausea, constipation, and more pain.
I cured this by quitting the medication. That has fixed just about everything except for the initial pain, which is, in all, quite bearable.
I can talk about spleens and why they are removed later. I can also talk about the rest of my summer. It has involved some travel, including a few trips to the beach which have left me with a tan that helps when it comes to soliciting comments regarding how healthy I look for having just gotten out of the hospital. I have also used the travel to connect with family and friends, including several of those on this list. Those trips are probably best described by photo.
Thank you to all who have sent kind thoughts by mail, email, facebook, telepathy, or in person. They have been received.
Love,
Melissa
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