Moving Day

[Sunday]

Now that I am not considered a threat to the rest of the patients on the leukemia wing, they want to move me back. In fact, last night, at around 9:45 they wanted to move me some time that night. I persuaded them that me sleeping was more important than me getting into a new room on Saturday night rather than Sunday morning.

Sunday brought a lot of visitors -- cousins Mindy, Paula, and Jana, my mom, Mara, Jan, and Paul. Not all at once, but there was some overlap. I am now in position to provide my own whole grains and fibers.

A little before noon, my nurse came to tell me I would be moving soon. I had been talking with anyone who would listen about my strong desire to get one of the bigger rooms on the floor. I had been in a regular room and in a small one, and the small was pretty cramped, especially with a visitor. This floor only has large and small, and I wanted to hold out for a large one, given the time I had already served in the small one, plus the length of my stay so far and yet to come. The nurse tells me I am getting one of the large rooms.

With the help of family, I pack up all my stuff and we waited. Around 3:00, someone came by with a wheelchair (to carry stuff, not me). We parade off of South and down the hall to North. Going down the hall. Rolling and parading into my new SMALL room! I stamp my feet, hold my breath, explain how special I am, and get the person in charge to agree (with only a little eye-rolling) to put me in one of the larger rooms. Fortunately, one is coming available within the hour. My nurse who had told me I was getting a larger room stopped by, and she was not happy to hear about the attempted room switcheroo. "I am going to speak with someone about that."

Since my now ex-new room is too small to host the number of visitors I had, we hang out in the lounge with the exercise equipment. We keep getting updates on the room -- it's empty, we've ordered a cleaning STAT, we're still waiting for the cleaners, the cleaners are in there, it's almost ready.

Around 5:30, I get to move in. The room feels twice as large as the one they were prepared to move me into.  It's fantastic.