The last week in hospital was definitely the worst. For the first few days I was running high temperatures fairly frequently. I could feel them start to come on – first it would start with muscle pains in my sides and shivering, then about an hour later the high temperature would come on. I found eventually that 10mg of oxycodone would take care of the muscle cramp, but then I’d need to wait until the high temperature before they’d give me Tylenol. After a few days the swelling went down on my coccyx and they were pumping me full of antibiotics, and the fevers went away. I still spent most of my time hooked up to the IV pole and felt most comfortable in bed. A lot of the time in hospital was spent waiting. It takes 48 hours after they take a blood sample for them to come up with a preliminary diagnosis, and another 24 for specific diagnosis. Then there was the MRI. Initially they scheduled me for an MRI then they cancelled it, then they rescheduled it. After rescheduling it took three days before I actually got the test, then another day before the doctors looked at the results and determined that it was negative. In the end, everything happened at once, and they made the decision to remove the portacath, which happened 8am on Friday (2/17) and to discharge me the same day.

I’m so happy to be home again, but naturally after so much bed time my muscles have atrophied, particularly the ankles. I have almost no feeling in my feet and walking feels like I’m balancing on blocks of wood. I duly do my physiotherapy exercises every day, but it’s early days yet to report any improvement. I’m looking forward to the weather improving a bit so that I can get outside.