It’s Tuesday and I’m still in the hospital but I’ve certainly turned a corner. Last night I graduated from IV fluids to clear liquid diet. For dinner and breakfast this morning I was able to have chicken broth, juice, jello and herbal tea. During morning rounds, an examination of my belly showed some positive bowel sounds and a softer abdomen. I then graduated to solid food for lunch. What’s that?! You heard right. SOLID food.

I had a little turkey and tomato rice soup; so far it’s sitting pretty well. No nausea, no vomiting, no feeling like a monster has punched a hole in my gut and grabbed onto my intestines for dear life. One meal down. Let’s hope dinner stays on course.

There is no official word but I think that I could get discharged tomorrow if all goes well tonight. As much as I do secretly enjoy the adjustable hospital bed, I’ll be happy to return home to my own surroundings. I also adore my nurses and CNA’s but I definitely won’t miss 3am wake ups for vital signs and 5am blood draws.

I still do need to have chemo on Friday so as far as I have been told. The infusion schedule hasn’t changed so things will be business as usual soon enough.

One more tid-bit of positive news that I wasn’t expecting. In the midst of all of this mayhem, the CA-125 results came back from last week’s blood draw and it was 479!

It dropped like 400 points(?)* since a month ago when it was still hanging out in the 800’s! Perhaps that steroid really did help to fight the inflammation in my body last week. I could use a small victory so I’ll surely take it.

*Hey medical professionals- riddle me this: in what unit is the CA-125 measured? “Points” doesn’t sound very official. Help. Love always, some one that should know the answer to this.