Methodist Days 4-8

Not much happened on day 4. I was able to sleep a little bit after taking an ambien. I also had trouble concentrating and focusing my eyes. Between the meds and the ambien, I slept more during the day, which screwed with my sense of time. At 11 pm, I called my dad because I though it was 11 am!

On day 5, I woke at 3 am. I tried going back to sleep and woke again at 7 am. The only other notes I have that day were that I hallucinated a bug on the floor and that I dropped my cell phone and it fell under the bed. The nurse had to get it for me. Oh! And I took another ambien and ended up writing the letters ALR in my notes. I have no idea what they were supposed to mean but I guess I thought they were important because I made them really dark.

My notes (with the random letters). As you can see, my handwriting became sloppier as the days went by

On day 6, it was the 4th of July. I took a lot of walks this day. At night, I walked to a large window at the end of a hallway and stayed there to see if there were any fireworks in the area. I saw a few, but I also saw a group of people wearing black robes and horror movie masks. They travelled in groups and some of them scaled the walls of nearby buildings. Obviously this was a hallucination, but at the time I thought it was real and I was very freaked out by it. 

On day 7, a steroid was added to my collection of medications. The doctor also increased one of my daily meds (mexiletine, which has an off label use for treating migraine pain).

Finally on day 8, I was released. While I was waiting for my discharge papers and for my PICC to be removed, I took some pictures of my telemetry monitor. 

This is what the cords and strap look like at first

This is what the cords and strap look like after about five minutes - hopelessly tangled!

PICC line removal is pretty easy. You turn your head to the opposite side while laying down, take a deep breath, and then while it's being pulled out, you blow your breath out. The breathing trick distracts you so you don't even feel the PICC line being removed. 

And that completes my stay at Methodist! Coming soon - continued Origins posts!