It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I woke up fairly early when the night nurse stirred, but I went back to sleep. A couple of hours later, I woke up to the day nurse writing his name on the board and talking about the Caribbean cruise he had just returned from. My first thought was, “We’re stuck in the hospital over Christmas; shut our big fat mouth!”

His first order of business was to draw blood for a cross and type. Amanda’s fibrinogen, a major plasma protein coagulation factor, was low. So, she needed plasm instead of albumin in today’s PLEX treatment. We waited for the blood draw results to return before they could start the PLEX.

I was raring to finish the tree, but Amanda wanted to finish her fleece ornaments first. I set her up to work on them, then went to get coffee. It was not a successful run; they were out of oat milk. I saw they were out on the app, but I wanted to try in-store to make sure. They were out and irritated because they had been expecting it daily. As I left, a security guard who had been there every day held the door open for me. We talked briefly, as we have every time I’m there. He fist-bumped me and said Happy Holidays, I’m off tomorrow, but I’ll be back Thursday! 

I checked stores all around to no avail. There was one store in the Medical Center building about a 3/4 of a mile away. I hoofed it over there to find out it was closed for the holiday. Bad day to be wearing cowboy boots! I put in the steps for coffee and didn’t even get rewarded with a cup! I figured I would throw in a pic from my long walk all the way around the hospital since Brittany set the bar high with all of her pictures. By the way, baby J is still MIA from the manger scene.

I met our cardiologist on my way up to the ICU; he said see you in a bit. It wasn’t long before he showed up with his team. We had a few questions; he was still trying to figure things out and wanted to run all the options and scenarios before deciding on the best plan. I asked if we’d stay in the ICU, and he said at least until the central line was ours. Then he asked where we preferred, and I quickly said here. He said well, I can keep a better eye on you here.

I went to get lunch from Chic-fil-A in the children’s hospital, but when asking a security guard which level the sky bridge was on, he said they’d probably be closed. I went to get Chipotle, but Amanda called and said to abandon lunch since they had just moved the PLEX machine in. She can’t eat while they do the treatment.

When I got back, they were still waiting to start. So I busted into a huge snack basket a sweet couple got us for Christmas right before we came up here. Although we didn’t bring it up when we first came, I sure wished we’d had it a few days ago. I did, however, bring it back up. 

The nurse administering the PLEX said it would be half albumin and half plasma this time. Amanda started feeling bad after the plasma started. They increased the calcium twice to counteract, but it didn’t help but for a bit. She gets super cold during the treatment as well. They control the temperature of the PLEX and turned it up a bit, but she was still freezing.

After the treatment, she was wiped. Her rate had slowed a bit, down to 115, the lowest I’ve seen since we’ve been here. She took a long nap, and I followed suit. I was out good when the cleaning lady came in; I looked up and passed right back out. A while later, I woke with my mouth wide open, along with the door to our room, so everyone got to see that pretty site!

Amanda’s brother was coming in with his fiancé to see us. I had sent him a list of a few things we needed, too. It was good to see them both. I went to get a snack while they chatted. Amanda wanted waffle fries. I had seen the hours of the Chick-fil-A, and it showed to be open. So, I went to see, but everything was closed in that food court. So I went to get a refresher from Starbs, but they were closed early! I did find some fresh fries in the cafeteria, though.

After our company left, we began working on our Christmas tree to finish it up. I would grab an ornament, and Amanda would tell me where to put it, and so on. It turned out great. We had so many ornaments, so some didn’t get to used, but most of them made the cut.

After that, I ordered dinner; we splurged a little and got a nice meal. Italian with some good bread and dessert. Someone sent us an UberEats gift card with no name of who it was from, just a scripture with it. So, whoever you are, thanks for dinner tonight! While we waited for dinner to be delivered, I worked on card trees from all the cards we’d received. I did two and didn’t even put a dent in the cards!

Our usual Christmas Eve dinner is crab legs; it’s been a tradition for all of our marriage. We missed last year because I had the flu, too. This year, we had a mushroom pappardelle and a truffle risotto, a fungi affair. Our dessert was a tiramisu cheesecake. We had soup and a side of broccoli, but neither showed up. Uber was quick to refund those items, though. Good, but not crab, we’ll have to have a make-up dinner.

After dinner, I took an S-word. Don’t tell Amanda, but that was one of the best hospital showers I’ve ever had. It is in a bathroom all by itself with a huge wheel/walk-in shower. I was in there for a while! I’m so glad I have a place to shower here and don’t have to go somewhere for a shower.

Amanda hadn’t been feeling good for a while. I’d encouraged her to get some pain meds ahead of time, but she says they don’t work well for the type of pain she has. I still wish she’d have taken some to stay ahead of the pain a little. She continued to feel bad until she had to get IV pain meds. I think the plasma really messed with her.

The holidays are always a difficult time for those who work them. Coming from an industry that works all holidays and never shuts down, like a hospital, it’s hard to focus fully. I feel you never focused well on significant holiday shifts like these. I pray for guidance and focus for everyone on our team over the holidays.