Day 1 and Observations

Came home last night - what a great feeling.  It felt good to be in my own house, all though I didn't sleep in my own bed - I was so tired I fell asleep on the couch shortly after getting home.

This morning was the first, of what will become weekly visits, with my home nurse.  Her name is Tess - she's pretty cool.  We spent about two hours this morning, filling out paperwork and shooting the breeze.  We were waiting on Tom, my home care delivery guy, to bring me the rest of my supplies that we needed for today (and my next week's worth).  The training itself was not very long - I had done a trial run yesterday while still in the hospital (using a saline bag though).  I wasn't expecting our visit to take so long, so I was a little behind schedule getting the errands done that I wanted to - but I did accomplish some of them.

I would run to the pharmacy and get my prescriptions filled - $130 for a one month supply of my three meds - and that's WITH my insurance.  One of them costs me a $100.  I will definitely be looking into either a generic or alternative on that, because that is just too much to put out every month.  I picked up some other supplies while at the pharmacy - tape for when I need to cover my site while showering, a thermometer to take my temperature each day to watch for signs of infection, shampoo/conditioner, and deodorant for my husband (WHITE deodorant - apparently the last one I got him was clear and he wasn't happy with it, lol).

After the pharmacy, it was time to run to the dollar store and pick up some bins and ziploc style baggies.  I used these to organize all of my TPN supplies.  I have bags made up for Morning and bags for Night.  And a bag made up for Tuesday - this is the day that Tess will come see me at work to change my bandaging, take my blood, etc.  So now all I need to do is going into my linen closet and grab the appropriate bag to start or end my TPN treatment for the day.  I also sneaked in a quick visit to get my eyebrows waxed - they were a mess!

After the dollar store I ran over to Kohl's trying to find some new clothes for work that were TPN friendly - and at this point was killing some time before a meeting I needed to go to.  I didn't have a lot of time, so I grabbed a bunch of stuff and hopefully I will like it tomorrow when I try everything on.

I went to my meeting and then made the mad dash home to pick up my daughter from school and then get her to the martial arts school so she could train.  It was a good night for me, tiring, but it was great to be around everyone again.  We'd finish up the night with my TPN machine telling me it was done - rushing to get home to disconnect, lol.

I made some observations today:

- Deep down in my husband's hard exterior, he is a very caring man.  He without complaint or eye rolling, willingly assisted me this morning in wrapping my arm with saran wrap and then taping it off so I could take a shower.  He could have been so helpful because I was standing there with my tshirt off and just hanging around my neck...nah, he just wanted to help.  In all seriousness though, he was very helpful and caring.

- When a nurse asks you if you want to know how much something costs, make sure you really want to know before you start playing the guessing game with her.  Especially, when there is a possibility it may need to come out of your pocket in the future when the insurance stops paying for it.

- People like to stare.  There were so many times today while out running my errands that people were just staring at the tube come from arm down into the big black bag that I was lugging around.  I was curious though what they were thinking - what ailment did they think I had?  Some people actually steered clear from me - it was very obvious - like they were going to catch something from me.

- Clothes shopping no longer includes being able to try stuff on in the dressing room while you are TPN.  Which stinks, because I just recently got into the habit of trying things on BEFORE I bought them.  Oh well.

- Sometimes partial honesty is the best way to go.  Give them enough information, but not everything.  Because if you gave them everything and they went out onto the Internet - the worry that they would be consumed with would be unbearable.

- That black bag is heavy and not the most comfortable to lug around for 10 hours.  But I made a choice, I would rather have my time at night to sleep uninterrupted and carry the bag around during the day - instead of running my TPN at night, getting up numerous times to use the bathroom, worrying about whether the dog or my husband is going to catch and pull on the tube.  But boy is that bag uncomfortable and heavy (my back is actually sore right now).

- My favorite observation.  I have some amazing people in my life.  I was at the martial arts school tonight while my daughter trained.  Countless people came up to me to hug me, to welcome me back, to ask how I was.  Two of those families delivered food tonight - which I may say my husband has been into both of them already (and if my son was awake so would he).  The kids.  The kids coming up to me and saying they missed me and hugging me - it took everything in me not to cry.  One of my little buddies giving me a gift of a purple mini ninja, which I will carry with me always.

Today was a good day.  A good day to be home.  A good day to be surrounded by great people.  Today was a good day.  Time for sleep :)