Admitted

As soon as I woke up, I knew the infection was definitely worse.   A large area around the surgical site was red and inflamed.  But I had plans to go to the Won Buddhism Meditation Temple with my brother, sister and my stepfather who was visiting from Michigan, for a Thanksgiving Ceremony of Remembrance in memory of our mother.  We also planned to go to lunch after that.  So I went to the service, which was wonderful (although I was a bit distracted), and when we got to the restaurant, I called the oncologist on call.

The oncologist told me I should come to the ER and plan to be admitted. So I finished my lunch, asked my brother to take my son to get a Christmas tree (which we had planned to do after lunch), and I went to the ER.

It took 3 hours for me get out of triage and into the ER.  However, once I got to the back, this time I had a private room in the ER, with a TV, and I was able to watch a Barbra Streisand concert while they started me on an IV antibiotic.  My brother came to wait with me until I was transferred to a hospital room.  I told him I felt bad to be in that room, because I wasn't really hurt like some of the people in the open areas.  He told me to just try to practice being grateful, which was the main lesson of the Ceremony of Remembrance.

I was taken to an ultrasound lab where the technician confirmed that I now had a fully infected abscess. Looking at the image, I could see the abscess and a line going straight out the hole where the drainage catheter had been inserted.

I was admitted to the surgical oncology floor, which has 24 beds.  The room was very large and well equipped and the area was very quiet.  I felt fortunate to be there rather than in a small regular room in the noisy main hospital.  I thought about how worried my son must be and I prayed for him to sleep well and not worry.  My sleep was fairly interrupted by IVs beeping, blood draws, and vital signs, but overall I was relieved to finally get the problem taken care of.