It's Day 7 in the hospital and I am ready to go home. I'm done the treatment so I am hoping they release me from this place. It is a very typical morning with the nurse coming in to take my vital signs and blood work. I get up and head to the bathroom so I can start my morning routine only this time I'm packing up my stuff because in my head I'm going home.
My mom has spent the last 2 days in the hospital because she was worried about the allergic reactions and she's hoping I can go home. She is also in packing mode and decides to take stuff to the car. We haven't even heard anything from the doctors yet but we are both optimistic. I remember to call my dad to tell him to hold off on coming up (he's been working from my room) because I'm hoping and praying they let me go home. He says ok and to keep him updated. No problem! My mom is about to start taking things to the car and I ask her to bring me up some breakfast because I'm a little hungry. This time I'm going to keep it simple..turkey bacon, hash brown and grits. That should work.
The team rolls into my room and the first thing I say is "Can I go home?" They explain they are just waiting for my blood work to come back and if the numbers have gone down more they will let me go home. They let me know they will need to take the PICC line out and that it will be done bedside. I asked a couple of questions but the most important one was "Is it going to hurt?" The doctor said no, I will be fine. The problem with that statement is I watched videos the night before about removing a PICC line so I wasn't so sure about his truth. I actually said well it hurts now so I think it will hurt coming out. He said fair enough and we left it at that because unless you have had these things done to you I don't believe you can tell someone it won't hurt, you won't feel anything, etc. But I digress.
A couple of hours pass and a doctor comes in and tells me that my numbers improved and although they aren't in the range they are comfortable with sending me home. I was elated I can finally get home to my bed and my shower. I call my dad and tell him and he's happy too. Now I just need to wait for the doctor to come in and remove this PICC line. It did seem like it took forever for the doctor to come in but in the hospital, it seems time moves really slow. He walked me over all the steps and what I needed to do when he is pulling the line out. It took a total of 10 minutes (including removing the tape, and pressure) and my arm was free. Beat up, burning and bruised but it was free and so was I! They informed me that I would be on all the same meds I was on when I first got transplanted and around 7 pm I was on my way HOME.
P.S. I have a video of the removal of the PICC line but I will keep that to myself but here is a picture :)
