Today has been long. They woke me up at 7:30 to take me down to ultrasound to look at my picc line and it ended up being a couple of hours of tests and waiting and more tests. This whole time I was being pushed around on a stretcher driven by one transporter or another. On the final leg back to the room, the fire alarm rang as we were about to get on the elevator. I asked the transporter what happens now and he  said, “I’m new and they haven’t trained me on fire alarms yet.” Needless to say I made it safely off the elevator and back to my room. My dear friend Holly had been waiting there since 8:30 or so after getting off a long shift at work. She then helped me pack up my room and move down to the 8th floor and brought me a gorgeous pink blanket I have been wrapped up in ever since.

My new room is quite a pleasant change from the old. It is private, most importantly, and I now have space to put my clothes away, a large bathroom all to myself and a flat panel television that no one can figure out how to turn the volume on (but it looks nice all the same). After the move, my dad popped in for a visit and when everyone left they hooked me up for my first blood transfusion.

For the details you may or may not care about, my picc line has to come out and a new one put in on my other arm. I’m not happy about putting a new line in but my arm is pretty swollen and painful right now so I’ll be happy to have the old one out. In the meantime, these phlebotemists – who are my least favorite people at the hospital – have to put in two temporary IV lines and they’re not very delicate about it. That’s all the complaining I’m doing for today.

I’m writing earlier tonight because the transfusion is giving me a low-grade fever and the picc line will be coming out later. But, by midnight my first round of chemo should be finished! I’m hoping to sleep well and wake up to get started on laps around my new floor.

I can’t go without thanking Ann for stopping and bringing me classic Ren & Stimpy DVDs and some great books. Ann also got me craving guacamole and gave me the idea to read books to the kids over video. I think they would love that. And Julie stopped in for a quick visit and brought a fantastic collection of magazines, a great pic of my gal pals, tons of pics of Johnny Depp for my wall and “The Big Book of Personality Tests.” By the end of my hospital stay I will know whether …

• My Parents’ Hang-Ups Psyche Me Out
• If I Express Anger Constructively
• Whether I Can Spot the Signs of Creeping Alcoholism
• Whether I Could Break the Law

… among so many other things about myself. Thank you Julie!

I have to say that when I started to write tonight’s post I was feeling pretty crappy but Brian happened to put the kids on video chat to talk to me before their bedtime. It’s amazing what their little smiles will do to change my mood. I am feeling much better and stronger now. In the meantime, three nurses are on a mission to figure out how to turn my TV volume on. If it doesn’t happen, I will just have to guess what Sharon, Pierce and Howey are saying about the contestants on America’s Got Talent. That should keep me entertained until I pass out.