Hellloooo from Room 7218!!

Written by JKM on September 26th, 2008

I’m here (in the University of Washington Hospital Center)! I had my i131 dose from 2-6, although I was here in my room since 11:30 or so to do my premeds and everything. It was pretty creepy because when the dose was ready, they wheeled in this big container on wheels…inside you could see about 700 pounds of lead bricks, and in the middle was a lead container which held the dose…apparently the iodine dose is hanging in the middle of the container. Now there’s a stationary bike where the creepy container was so I can get a little exercise between now and Tuesday! (well, hopefully Tuesday…they say it’s usually anywhere between 5 to seven days before I’m allowed to be out with all you normal people :) ).

There are gloves scattered all over my room (not on the floor, mind you, but on top of different objects that I will contaminate if I touch (e.g. my CDs, my laptop, my hairdryer and curling iron (yup! I brought them so I can feel extra good about myself…..I’m still really missing my makeup though!) ). They told me that if I touch any part of my laptop other than the keyboard (which is covered in plastic), they will have to keep it for 3 months! Well, that scared me, so I piled gloves on top of it, and my nurse put a note at the top which reads “Don’t forget your gloves!! Nurse Wendy :)”…..then she said “glove it if you love it”. hahahahahahahaha which is why I scattered the gloves. I’m just so afraid I”ll forget and just grab something with my hot little hands (hahah get the pun? “hot”…as in “radioactive”?!)

It’s pretty interesting though…I’ll have Laura put up some pics sometime this weekend…obviously I wasn’t going to bring my camera in here!!!! AND, I don’t have my phone! Many of you know that I’m an iphone addict, so I’m in a little bit of withdrawal, but I’ll be OK, so no worries. My phone number here is (206)598-7613. That is also covered in plastic, so if you hear a little rustling while talking to me, don’t be alarmed! If I don’t answer my phone, it’s because I can see the caller ID, and I don’t want to talk to you. hahahaha Just kiddin’ folks. It’s because I’m resting or talking to someone else. You can leave a message though! Unfortunately I couldn’t record a personal greeting. Lori and I thought it would be funny to say “Hey, you’ve reached Julie…I’m radioactive and can’t come to the phone right now, but leave a message!!” :)…Oh, man…I’m having a hot flash, but I don’t dare take my covers off because if the bottom of the computer touches the skin on my legs, it’s a goner for three months! By the way, the hot flashes aren’t from the dose, but rather from Zoladex, a monthly shot that’s supposed to help protect my ovaries.

What especially sucks about hot flashes and sweating is the fact that I can’t shower for 48 hours! Good thing I’m in isolation, right? –that way no one has to smell me. :) And the reason for that is pretty crazy…apparently iodine can be washed from my skin and my “hotness” (my made-up word, remember?) is not good for the sewage system. NOT GOOD FOR THE SEWAGE SYSTEM?!!!!!!! AND IT’S GOING THROUGH ME AS WE SPEAK?! In fact, I notice a green reflection of myself in my laptop….hahahahaha Pretty crazy stuff. The room is lined in lead (but I can’t see it, or that would be really creepy), the floor is covered in paper, my tray, drawers, door and faucet handles, and pretty much the whole room is covered in either plastic or paper or both. The weird thing is that the lead barrier at my door is not very big. It’s maybe 4 feet long and 1 1/2 feet wide, hooked in to a little cart on wheels which has a tray on top where the nurse stands and changes my iv’s and where they leave my meds and my food. I take my own vitals (blood pressure and temperature), my own blood (it’s pretty easy…I stop the flow of my iv fluids, lock that side of my catheter, clean the other side, screw on this plastic thing that has a needle, and slide the tube so the top goes into the needle. It’s like a vacuum so once I unlock my catheter, it automatically fills the tube with blood and stops when it’s full…pretty interesting, huh)?

So, while watching “Gray’s Anatomy” tonight, I discovered that next week is “National Stay at Home Week” for ABC! :) How’d they know I’d be stuck? :) Well, hopefully I’ll only be here ’til Tuesday, but the timing’s pretty good, don’t you think? Apparently they have a lot of season premiers coming up. But I also have a lot of wonderful books and some great DVDs!!

I have other exciting news….Katie’s coming next weekend! She’s known for a while, but she waited until I had my dose to tell me, which was a wonderful idea…gives me something to really look forward to! Not that I’m not looking forward to seeing you, Laura, but I didn’t think I’d see Katie until November!!!

So Lori and I were talking about how I should talk to my fellow neighbor in isolation through the wall since we’re in the same situation…she pointed out that prison mates do that. :) Ronnie likened it to McCain talking to his fellow POW. hahahahaha OK, it’s not that bad here! I have a nice view (don’t worry, I took a picture before being radioactive, so I’ll have Laura put it up for me sometime). I believe I’m looking out over Lake Washington…either that or the section where Lake Washington and Lake Union meet…I think they call it “the cut”. If I walk to my door, I can see the stadium for the UW football team. I also have lots of pics in my room…last week I printed out lots of pictures onto plain ol’ printer paper, so I made a collage of those. They keep me smiling!

Oh man…my hands are hot in these gloves!! I’m going to go watch some “Frasier”…it’s all about Seattle TV shows tonight!! Well, I did watch the “Cosby Show” earlier. I will always love that show. Not only does it bring back wonderful memories of watching it with my family when I was little, but it never fails to make me laugh out loud, which always feels good!!!

Hope you’re all doing well. As for me, I’m good! Hanging in there, you know, and plowing ahead. I’m happy and anxious that we got this process going!

Love from room 7218

6 Comments so far ↓

  1. Sep
    26
    6:02
    AM
    Andrew Colletti

    Julie, this post is so funny it has me laughing out loud at 5:30am! Good thing I’m the only one in the office so far!

    I think you are just around the corner from where I was at UW. I had the view of the Cascades, UW Stadium (there’s a big game there tomorrow night) and Lake Washington. But if you can see the cut then maybe just maybe you can see Mt. Ranier on a sunny day???

    The views there were a great motivator. All day you can see those young college sprouts sailing, rowing, swimming, hiking at Lake Washington and you think, “I’m going to beat this thing so I can join ‘em!”

    Next time they give you green jello, draw it up in your vacuum tube and tell them the radioactivity is turning you into the Incredible Hulk :-)

    Glad the healing process has finally started. Up ’til now you’ve been playing defense. Now you and Laura are takin’ it to the enemy!! Nuke the Leuks!

  2. Sep
    26
    9:32
    AM
    Katie

    I love that nurse’s saying of “glove it if you love it”. :o)

    You’ll have to let me know what you think of Grey’s Anatomy. I noticed last night that at one point, it looked like the top doctor was looking out at Mt. Ranier!

  3. Sep
    26
    9:44
    AM
    Kristi

    I always knew you were hot!

  4. Sep
    26
    6:53
    PM
    Rachel

    Ditto, Katie, on the Glove it if you love it. I’m gonna start using that expression in my everyday life!

  5. Sep
    26
    8:02
    PM
    Veronica (Theresa's Mom)

    Thinking of you and I find your blogs very interesting. My prayers are with you everyday.

    Veronica

  6. Sep
    27
    12:20
    AM
    Maya

    I was laughing and reading Brant the part about your blood being more tolerant than the Seattle sewers - you’re such a diiiiiirty girl! Must come from being so dang “hot.” =) Seriously though, it’s so cool for me to be reminded about the good nuke things - I’m glad that it’s helping you fight this battle…and this will probably be one of the only times in your life when you’ll actually want to have lead in your paint. Take that HGTV! Keep up the good spirits - we’re thinking about you and sending you lots-o-love!!

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