Isolation: Let’s get into the groove!

Well here I am fully in isolation now.  In fact, I am almost out.  But before we get to that fantastic event which might happen tomorrow, I wanted to give you just a little taste of what goes on here in isolation.  It really all comes down to getting into a grove.  Cue the 1980’s genre again.  Ladies and Gentlemen I bring you Madonna!

 

So isolation sounded really really boring right?  Nothing to do but play on the computer, watch movies and read.  Well I am here to tell you, it really can be a busy, filled up day.  Here is how it filters out.

I usually wake up sometime between 3am and 6am if I get a call from home.  I talk to Dan and see how he is doing.  The time difference makes things difficult, but we take the time when we can get it.  I am usually a little hungry at around 6am so I go to my store of goodies and grab some biscuits.  They give us a four piece cookie package with our dinner. They really are quite bland.  Not really cookies, and not really crackers.  So I save them for the morning time and crack them open.  It takes the edge off until breakfast comes.

But not so fast.  At about 6:30 to 7:00 am in comes an infusion of what I am assuming is steroids.  I get that along with blood pressure check and temperature check.  And they take blood samples.  All signs have been normal.  Then I eat my cracker and go back for a little rest until about 8:30 when breakfast comes.  It seems to come earlier on the third floor.  I guess they must start here first.  Breakfast usually consists of some kind of oatmeal like porridge along with bread and sometimes a boiled egg!  I have grown to love those boiled eggs.  You know exactly what you are getting and it gives you some protein.

So after first breakfast, you usually see Dr. Federenko.  He comes in pretty early and has your blood results.  You know the tests from about 6:30 in the morning.  So Dr. F comes in and charts your progress for you and lets you know how you are doing.  There was thought today that they might open my isolation door.  He decided to keep me a day longer.  There are three of us going through as a group.  We are affectionally know as the triplets or the”Two Aussies and the Yank”.

Although I am actually the oldest, I have been the one who is always last, so I now call my self “baby sister”.  And sometimes baby sister just needs a bit more time.  The good news is that my levels are still rising, just not as fast as my over achieving siblings!

So after meeting with Dr. Federenko and learning I would be in ISO another day, I decided to take advantage of this time to get caught up on things.  Or so I thought!  There really has  been a lot going on here.

At some point in the day they come to clean your room.  That is my chance to get a quick, and I do mean a very quick shower.  It is really more of a rinse down and dry off.  After you do that, they give you a mixture of solutions they want you to wipe your entire body down with.  I refer to it as the vodka bath!  It actually does take a bit of time and it all happens when they are cleaning the room.  So really there’s not a lot of time.   Also, it is  pretty tight quarters in that tiny bathroom which makes rushing even more difficult.  The small space also helps you to take on the “fumes” from the vodka bath.  All I want to do is get dressed and out of there.  They also give you a new issue of your “prison” pajamas.  The pace is actually exhausting and when I am done, all I want to do is have a nap.

So after the Vodka bath and jammie change, I do try to take a very tiny nap.  30 minutes if I can get it.  But then you know what happens?  Second breakfast!  It all just seems like so much food.  Second breakfast usually is two boiled apples, some baby cottage cheese and bead.  The baby cheese is awful.  I add sugar to it and fold in the apples.  That is about as much as I can do.  If I can’t do that, I drink a protein shake.

So now its Noon or a little after.  Now what?  We are responsible for washing our own dishes in the third floor ward.  Actually three times is how I understand it.  I finish my food, then wash in the bathroom with dish soap.  Then I put the plates and utensils into a box with a special solution and let them rinse no longer than 5 minutes.  Then I have to rewash them to get whatever that solution is off of the plates.  Then I dry them and stack for the next meal.  I have to admit, I am not always super diligent about doing this.  I do wash the dishes but then sometimes they go into the solution and a nice nurse will finish up.  I don’t do it on purpose.  Sometimes I just get tired and need a nap.

Lunch officially is at 2:00.  Today is Wednesday and that is the worst possible day for food here.  You always get some kind of soup which I have been alright with a little of that salt I brought along.  Todays soup was fish soup.  Im sorry, It just was to going to happen.  Oh and did I mention the main entree was Beef Tongue again.  I have to admit, I did try it when I first got here.  I did it only because so many people doubted that I would.  So I did it and well, it tastes like beef.  Surprise! I just have a hard time wrapping my brain around eating it.

So now it is almost 4:00 in the afternoon and I have been going pretty strong!  Dinner is not until 6:00 so I have some time to get some more work done.  I wan’t to do one more very special blog post but might take a nap.  But at least you have an idea of what my days are like.  After I blog, I usually do try to watch something on the iPad for a couple of hours so I can get to sleep a little later in hopes of sleeping in a little later.  We shall see how that goes.  Thanks for taking some time for a little bit of the day in my life right now!