Hospital / Day the Fourth

Just a quick update to let everybody know that I am still alive and (mostly!) well here at Club Med. I think I managed to let everybody know that I was admitted on Wednesday and have just been letting the meds do their job for the last few days.

I was lucky to get a bed ~ our pulmonary unit has been overflowing with CF admits for the last three weeks (we've had up to 17 CF admits on the unit at one time). I think there are around 13 of us in right now, which is still a pretty big census. My friend, Katey, was admitted on Wednesday as well. Although she normally goes over to HTICU (as do all the post-txp patients), she was admitted off unit. We are on the same floor but in different units. I've been over to her room a few times and she's journeyed over to mine, but mostly we've been texting and chatting over the computer. How lazy is that???

Currently I am on three IV meds - Cefepime, Zosyn, and Vancomycin. I tolerate the Cefepime without too much trouble, but still end up needing phenergran and benadryl to deal with the other two, especially the Vanc. I have a fairly common reaction to Vancomycin - Red Man Syndrome, which is:

a syndrome, usually appearing within 4–10 minutes after the commencement or soon after the completion of an infusion, characterized by flushing and/or an erythematous rash that affects the face, neck and upper torso. [...] Symptoms may be treated with antihistamines, including diphenhydramine.

For those of you not in the medical field, I have to take a fairly large dose of Benadryl (50 mg) to avoid the above reaction. Even with that I sometimes still end up having to take an additional 25 mg. And, of course, Benadryl makes me hyper, whereas with many other people it knocks them on their ass for a few hours.

I am not sure exactly how long I will be in this time. I wasn't terribly sick, but it was definitely time for a "tune up." My PFTs were 44% / 42%. I typically end up staying 21 days, but I am kind of pushing for a 14 day stay instead.

OK - I know that is probably more of a medical update than you ever really wanted to know. =)

I am trying to plan a short trip to the beach when I get out of here ... 4 days, 3 nights. I would love to go down to Seaside , FL. I've never been therefore but it sounds like a beautiful place. Honestly, though, at this point I would probably take whatever beach I can get to the fastest. Any ideas? I'm undecided as to if I want to go by myself, but most of my friends have so many other commitments that it's hard to plan a trip.

Enough for now! Any suggestions on ways to keep myself sane while I'm in "Club Med"? And please don't suggest reality TV -- I have already been sucked into Daisy of Love and Charm School this season. I really need to get out more often!

Laters ~