I said I would post about the time in the hospital, after I returned to my room from ICU. I will do that in a later posting but since I have not posted for a few days, I want to update you on what has been happening to us since we returned to our Houston apartment. This includes the last day in the hospital (Tuesday 22nd of March).

Our Tuesday started at 4:00 AM when the nurse came in to draw blood. I still had my pic line for collection/and administering but he could not get it to yield the blood he needed. He finally called for help and the lady who came was able to get the blood but through a direct stick. By this time it was almost 5:00 and I was to be taken down for dialysis. Sure enough they were there and wheeled my bed and me down for the dialysis. We were back in our room about 9:30 and they were preparing the papers to release us from the hospital. After we saw several doctors and I rested awhile, we were released about 11:30. We were sent to Memorial Hermann for the insertion of the temporary/permanent catheter that is primarily for receiving dialysis. Fifteen minutes after I was out of surgery, we were released and we felt this was a bit of a rush. We were used to M. D. Anderson and their patience and caring for us. I was still bleeding a small amount but they assured us it would clot and everything would be fine.

On the way back to our Houston apartment, the warm sunshine felt wonderful and it was a beautiful Texas day. I think this is when reality really hit me because I was seeing things I remembered from before the hospital stay. We arrived at the apartment and Arthur asked if I thought I could walk to the apartment, it was just a short distance. I said I felt good and I thought I could. I made about four steps and remember my legs feeling weak, my head spinning and then my whole body going limp. The next thing I remember was Arthur calling my name and talking to me. I felt pain in both of my knees and in the area of the new catheter. A bench was not far from where I had fainted and he asked if I could make it there and I half crawled to it. I was sitting and gained some strength while he was setting up a trail of chairs for me to walk by and sit on each chair until I could make it to the next chair. It worked and soon we were into the apartment. We soon realized that my new catheter was bleeding profusely. Arthur took the dressing off cleaned and redressed it. Telling me to lay very still and hoped it would stop bleeding. I remember my knees hurting and I said a couple of times that my knees really hurt. My knees were the least of his worries because of the amount of blood I was loosing through the catheter. When the bleeding stopped, I asked for a cloth to wipe my knees and he wiped them (I still do not feel he had the sympathy for my knees that they deserved). My knees remind me of when I was six years old and learning to roller skate because my knees always looked like a war zone.

He unloaded the things we had at the hospital and prepared me a couple of Tabor eggs and toast because I had not eaten for 24 hours and was weak from hunger as well as from the lose of blood. Then he almost collapsed from fatigue; I have never seen him so tired. I thought I was going to lose him and there was nothing I could do because if I moved, the bleeding would start again. Soon after arriving at the apartment, we went to bed that was about 7:15 and I think we were both asleep by 7:18. The next day Arthur was his usual self and taking charge of everything. I think he was exhausted from mentally from the strain and physically from all that was taking place. I thank God for him everyday because I could not go through this without him.

Enough for this posting but Arthur calls that Tuesday the day from hell.