4th Down

We arrived yesterday without incident, Jamie swiftly admitted and assigned to Room 7348. I followed Jamie into the room, deposited our bags in the closet and set to find a sleeper chair. After pirating one from the adjacent room, I left Jamie to settle herself and went to the lobby to return a cell phone call.

When I came back, the room was vacant and Jamie was now next door with someone from facilities fidgeting with the TV control. Apparently our original room had an annoying mechanical rattle in the ceiling and she had requested a new room, only to find the TV was not tuning all available channels. This would have been a minor issue if it were not channel 41, agitated and unfashionable midget TV, that was not available.

Our diligent “engineer” as the nurse called him (I refrained from correcting her) spent the next hour re programming and swapping out those special TV / light / call controllers while trying not to get in the way of the nurses and the med student going through the pre treatment rigors. Finally Jennie our nurse took control and asked if we could just have a standard TV remote so we could key in number 41, the hot rod and tattoo channel, ourselves. He said he didn’t think he had one but would be back.

He was gone for some time and both Jennie and I began to speculate as to his whereabouts. I having been a maintenance person myself new the perils and demands of his profession and assumed that he had been called to one of those post executive meeting clean ups where he and his custodial equivalents eat leftover croissants and cookies, after being tipped off by some high powered executive assistant who will later ask for an “extra” bulletin board or other chore done off the record.

Alas I was wrong however, probably because it was Sunday and our engineer was obviously faking his cordial reply when I saw him across the cafeteria cashier line and he said “I will be back in a few minutes”.

But true to his word, he did return and after trying one more bedside controller, relinquished a standard TV remote. By this time Jamie was being accessed and although I assume that he is not squeamish, still he seemed glad to be moving on.

I had seen nurse Christie on the sidewalk last Thursday, from behind easily recognizable by her uniform bright red Dansko shoes and blue scrubs. She was actually off work and returning from class the school of nursing. She said that she was on duty for the coming Monday and we should expect at least a brief visit if she was not assigned to Jamie.

Monday has come and no Christie, but Jennie has proved herself to be equal in skill. A Yakima native drawn to Seattle by both work and the outdoor lifestyle, she seems pretty typical of the younger nurses here. As a surfer, bicyclist and hiker she exchanged tips on both Westside and eastside camping and I got good directions for a future ride to, and around Green Lake.

With the same nurse both days, we seem to be moving along at a good pace. It is 11:15 AM and Jamie has her abdomen accessed and has already started the pre hydration. The first IV chemo bag went well, although we were awakened every two hours as usual by the pump alarm as the bubbles started to accumulate.

I was certain that we would see, Dr. Goff but last night her peer Dr. Swenson made evening rounds, introducing himself as her co-worker who was working because Dr. Goff was not. Dr. Swenson has that sort of wiry gray hair and bald top, that gives him a sort of fuzzy winged look, thin rimmed glasses and designer jeans that only a teenage daughter or overly zealous wife with a Bon Marche charge card would purchase. As with all doctors, he had his own way of conducting business which was very thorough and warm. We asked him about Jamie’s recent PET and CT scans so he promptly pulled them up on the computer. After reading them top to bottom, with me looking over his shoulder he reported that there was nothing of significance from either of them. Good news, which I now hope we will have the opportunity to have Dr. Goff elaborate on during our next consult.

For some, today is a recognized work holiday and the UWMC is no exception. With this came a reprieve form the early morning residents call, as they had no surgeries they didn’t start rounding until 8AM. The team has rotated once again and this morning came with the attending, Dr. Swenson with them. Pretty straight forward and brief as I find myself becoming more distant from them with each rotation. I will forever seem Dr. Unger, Dr. Sementi and the rest of their group as our team and the rest the come and go as just acquaintances. Liz from the second rotation was always enjoyable, but she seems to have gone before we really got to know her.

I need to review my past blogs and make sure I mention everyone in them by name so I can use them to keep track of all those that come and go. It appears though that I will not be forgotten as I met a nurse in the stair last night who asked me if I was leaving and when I replied that I was going to the store for snacks she said “no shellfish or sushi”.

Our nighttime nursing assistant Roger was exceptionally talkative last night, giving us more personal information than before. He has been here since our original visit in May and works a steady night shift schedule such that he has always been here for the IP. He said that he actually prefers the night shift as he can come and go, doing his work with little interruption. My first recollections of him were of a midnight shadow, coming in quietly and leaving with barely a word spoken. But if initiated he can be quite conversive and I now know that he lives with his mother and has worked this shift for nearly five years.

We also saw Michael last night, and although he is not a chemo nurse he always makes time to visit us.

Now we are on the flipping phase and thus I had best keep my closing comments short. There was a bit of spousal tension this morning as we debated when to press the call button as the first bags emptied so as to ensure that Jennie did not have to re prime the line. When it came to the pre hydration I got clearance to close the clamp if Jennie did not return promptly. I never got the opportunity to prove my skill though, as Jennie returned with just a few mL left in the bag.

Since our last visit the meal system has changed, the hospital now using a call in room service available from 6:30 AM to 7:30 PM with a promised delivery time of 45 minutes. Both quality and service have been good up until this point, as an hour has passed and no lunch. Hopefully this delay will result in lunch arriving in the next 3-5 minutes, finding Jamie in the heads up position, the best way to start.

Great luck! I heard the cart in the hall at 1 pm sharp and Jamie is now enjoying her salad, saving the chicken & pasta entrée for the first side position. Coordinating both the meal and operating the bed, will take my full attention so I better put the laptop aside and focus on my jr. assistant nursing duties.