My Battle with Merkel Cell Cancer

do very much. On the other hand, I am not having very much discomfort unless I have to
cough. I am placed on a liquid diet. Intravenous fluids are being administered. I need to
call the nurse whenever I go to the bathroom which seems to be quite often as my
bladder capacity seems to be limited. We await the important event, the passage of gas
and a bowel movement. I go for a short walk with the nurse at my side, without incident.
Judy stays with me. I don't have much recollection of that evening. I do remember trying
to go to sleep and having absolutely no success. The insomnia does not appear to be the
result of pain. However I am lying in a rather uncomfortable position. This is one of these
modern hospital beds which is designed to prevent bed sores. It inflates and then
deflates and then re-inflates and the cycle is about every 35 seconds. The passage of
time is excruciatingly slow.I'm reminded of the dripping faucet method of torture. In
addition, I am having a small amount of post nasal drip which results in some coughing
and abdominal pain. At times, I am unable to breathe either through my nose or through
my mouth, although fortunately, not both at the same time. I get out of bed and sit in a
chair which improves my respirations. I turn on the TV. I felt I did not want to wake up Dr.
Felix and asking for sleeping medications. Instead, I watch for consecutive half-hour
episodes of reruns of the TV show “Married with Children”.
Thursday morning finally arrives. I am greeted at about 6 AM by the lab tech who comes
to draw blood. At about 7 AM, my breakfast arrives. The morning newspapers also
provided. My breakfast consists of juice, Jell-O, and if there was something else, I don't
remember. Later in the morning, Judy arrives. It is absolute the pouring rain outside. Dr.
Felix arrives and by now, I have forgotten that I intended to ask him for sleeping pill for
Thursday night. He seems to be satisfied with my progress. My hemoglobin has gone
down to below 9 g. He explains this as viewed to improve hydration from intravenous
fluids which results in dilution of the same amount of hemoglobin in a larger volume of
fluid, and is not concerned by this at all. I again begin to go for short walks during the
day. I'm given a device to encourage breathing. It sort of reminds me of a plastic pot pipe.
You exhale as much as possible and then inhale through the mouthpiece. This raises up
a blue marker which you have to get up to the arrow which is set at 1500. I'm having
some difficulty at getting the marker up to the 1500 level. However I'm not terribly
uncomfortable doing this. A small amount of post nasal drip, however, results in coughing
which is uncomfortable. I am having some gas pains, and you're some gurgling from my
abdomen, but still await evidence of colon activity. My diet has advanced to the full liquid
diet. This allows the addition of sherbet, milk, and pudding.
I have visitors. My son Gary arrives with very touching get well cards from his three
girls.Bert Rettner, My good friend and bridge partner also visits.
Thursday night is a repeat of Wednesday night. I have forgotten to arrange to have a
sleeping pill. I spent much of the night awake in a chair. Since I woke up from my
anesthetic, I have had virtually no sleep. I am making frequent visits to the bathroom to
empty my bladder. With everything attached to the IV device, I am frequently getting
things tangled and having to untangle them so that I can maneuver my way back and
forth. I have completely stopped taking the morphine which doesn't seem to be doing any
good whatsoever. I watched three more episodes of "Married with Children".
I may have mentioned before that I am not a religious man. However early Friday
morning, my prayers were answered. There was an explosion of gas followed by a small
amount of liquid stool. Thank God, My colon had begun to do its job. Friday morning,
after a breakfast consisting of 1 ounce of cream of wheat, Jell-O, a half cup of milk, and
some sherbet, and after having more blood drawn, I have an early visitor. It is Dr. Felix.
My Battle with Merkel Cell Cancer
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