Last week was Friday the 13th. It was also supposed to be my last day of radiation.
On Tuesday, while en route to the hospital, I received a call from my technician to let me know my lucky machine # 7 was broken and my appointment was cancelled. My radiation would now finish on Monday, the 16th. I turned around and went home.
On Wednesday, my eye was beginning to bother me. At first I thought it was allergies but it seemed to feel worse as the day progressed. By the afternoon, my colleague poked his head over my cubicle, took one look at me and said "You need to go home RIGHT NOW" Then others congregated around my cubicle saying the same thing.
The next few minutes was a whirlwind of panic - Lisa started to wipe everything off with Lysol wipes and I heard someone say "She touched the coffee machine!!" Before I knew it, was tossed out of the office.
Pink Eye
I still have a foot print on my ass from being kicked out the door. I thought I heard a match strike as they set fire to my cubicle.
I never had an eye infection before so I googled pink eye, looking for home remedies to soothe it. Now I learned after being diagnosed with cancer, that the internet can scare the bejeezus out of you. Often the internet will give you worst case scenarios. In this circumstance, my eye looked 10 times worse than any image found on the internet. By Thursday afternoon I was sitting in the Eye Institute with what appeared to be a new strain of virus. Automatic 2 week ban from the office. When they took swabs from my eye, it reminded Carolyn of the scene in the 40 Year Old Virgin where they wax Steve Carrell's chest. I screamed everything short of "Jesus Monkey F*ck!" I knew things were not going to end well when the resident used the same Qtip to check both eyes and on Friday morning, the infection spread to both eyes.
My cousin nicknamed me the Cyclops...he was being flattering.
Radiation went ahead as planned. The technicians wore gloves and basically ordered a Hazmat team to clean the room upon my departure. I didn't get to ring the bell on Monday after my last radiation...what can I expect? I am contagious. No big deal, it never seemed very loud when others rang it. What I should have done was select an alert from my iPhone as I walked down the hall....Great ideas sometimes come after the fact.
Ironically, the song playing during my last radiation was Frank Sinatra's (I did it) My Way .....Fitting
Afterwards, I headed upstairs to emergency because my throat was killing me and after a 4 hour wait was told I have strep throat. All the staff looked at me with sympathy. I was pretty pathetic looking.
This is what happens when you go to the hospital everyday - You pick up germs. Then your body/immune systems gets knocked down and you get even more sick.
Jeff told me this is my body's way of telling me to slow down.
Oh yeah? Well I wish my body would shut up and give me a break
In addition, my Herceptin treatment has been postponed by a week. I'm not surprised. It wouldn't be fair to walk into the chemo unit and expose anything contagious to people with no immune system.
A little penicillin and a little rest, and I am back to normal but I am still not allowed back in the office until my Dr note expires. I have nicknamed myself the Office Leper.
Working from home reminds me of chemo days - I wasn't crazy about it at that time either, and its especially hard when the weather is so beautiful...but whaddya gonna do?
Will make up for lost time in July
