Okay, I’m exaggerating a bit. The hospital isn’t on total lockdown. Even so, I feel a bit like I’ve been thrown into solitary confinement with no idea of when I might be able to get out. I was thinking about this yesterday and it’s dawned on me that this is EXACTLY how zoo animals must feel: bored, confined, nothing to do except wait for the next feeding time. The only difference is that I don’t have crowds of weird humans peering or yelling at me from across a concrete moat. Oh, wait… I have a steady trickle of nurses, doctors, nurse practitioners, techs and food service folk coming into my room daily. Well, at least they don’t expect me to strike a fierce threatening pose on a rock or something. Yeah… I got your fierce right here, buddy…

I think I’m beginning to hit the skids a bit. It’s about time for the cell counts to begin dropping although my lethargy today could just be the result of a rotten night’s sleep. I couldn’t breathe last night. Yesterday it was warm enough outside to open the tiny little porthole that opens in my otherwise solid bank of windows. It was wonderful to smell real, fresh air again and I stayed parked in my recliner in front of that opening for about an hour. Big mistake. I was completely smacked down with hay fever and even with a nose strip I was miserable. I’ve been given Zyrtec today and it seems to be helping but now all I want to do is lie down and rest.

Wow, my blood pressure took a nosedive about mid-day today, to something like 84/55. I felt woozy and light-headed and had no strength for anything except lying about like a big slug. It climbed backed up again a bit later but the incident still spooked me somewhat. The last time this happened, during my first A round, I had nurses pouring into my room with various monitoring devices and was hooked back up to IV fluids. I ended up developing the strep infection around the same time. This time around, my heart wasn’t racing and I was fairly well hydrated. Still, I’m almost afraid to try to relax and sleep because I don’t want my bp to drop again.