(this is the "last hospital entry" I've been promising.)

    Sunday, April 2nd, 5:20pm - Well, forgot to note that this makes 30 days in-hospital so far this year, and 24 for this stay. EEK, I'm getting up there!
    6:40pm - Well, got the tray tonight. Was a fruit puree, miso broth, and rice glue without the rice (boring, but edible) - but anything is good at this point.
    Monday, April 3rd, 8pm - Had two moew meals of that type - soy sauce just makes the rice glue taste worse, I found out at breakfast, and I still can't stand tomato juice, but dinner is starting to approach normality. Call it "soft solids". Had fish in a cream soup, a scoop of egg salad, some veggies (with cabbage - I avoided that) and the glue had rice attached (was 1/2 glue, 1/2 rice) and the broth had minced carrots and celery in it this time. Had Mom bring up condiments for the rice - ketchup DOES work well (she only had soy sauce on her when she came up Sunday.) Tomorrow and Wednesday will be the test. I'm now completely off the IV - the port was taken out before lunch. So I finally got to have a shower without having to wrap up part a hand or part of an arm. Was very nice. Shaved, too. Paid the bill for the February hospitalization today while Mom was here, too. Once she left, I slept for 2 hours - I don't have much endurance yet. (side note: my legs still get rubbery after 10 minutes as of yesterday. Went shopping with Mom to buy low-sodium soups and other stuff we needed and I could barely get the lightweight stuff in once we got to the house!) At least I can still stand. I walk a little - need to do more. I held weight today - still at 110 pounds. Starting to go in small amounts, too. All in all, a good day. This stay, I'm guessing, will be at least a million yen, and I figure a million five... (It ended up being 930,000¥ and change. I'd have to look up the exact amount.) Oh, last bit. Pred down to 40mg starting tomorrow (from 60 on Saturday), restarting Imuran, as far as my regular meds go. (I'm back on Pentasa and the vitamins as well, now.) Will bring camera out tomorrow to take pictures outside.
    Wednesday, April 5th, 10:00am - Well, they're changing the sheets on my bed, so I decided to go to the lounge. I didn't have a lot of energy yesterday still - today I have more. Apparently I'm caught up on sleep now. [Yesterday I slept most of the time until 3pm.] Had a little bit of pain and soreness (1 out of 10) today after breakfast, but it's gone now. I'm up to 114 pounds again now that I have some food in me! I'll be on a "normal" diet as of lunch (well, as "normal" as a Japanese diet is, in my opinion!) - they did blood work before breakfast, including an inflammation check. I've finally stopped being "ravenously hungry", too. Did get those pictures! You'll see them, and a number of others, soon!
    I should mention that I have a new branch president - one of the reasons I want to get out is so I can talk to him. I haven't heard anything from Dad about the SOFA status issue, and if I don't hear from them by the 13th, I'm going to have to leave on my current plane ticket. (I'd be flying into Seattle. I leave the 16th at 11:30am Okinawa time and get to Seattle at 12:15pm Pacific time the "same day".) I know I got an e-mail that changed my last flight segment (San Francisco to Seattle) by 30 minutes before I went in, I just don't remember the exact time it got changed to. [I've checked now] I got put on a later flight - which I was thankful for.
    Friday, April 7th , 5:50am - Yes, I'm awake. I was very tired yesterday, and I'm not so tired today. Must have just needed a break. Had a little more pain (still 1/10) Wednesday night and Thursday morning but it's gone again. I hope to be out of here in the next 6 hours - if not, I'll call this in, but I should be out tomorrow. I'd like to talk to Dr. Shinoura before I go, but if I don't, I don't. (I didn't see him yesterday.) I've just got too much stuff at home to get started on.
    10:10am - I'm out! Dr. Shinoura should be coming up in a little bit, then it's just run-about (which took until 1pm.) I got told 20 minutes ago, and I'm 90% packed now. (I've got stuff out for the next hour or two if need be.)
    Note: my current weight (115 pounds last I checked) makes for a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 19.7 at my height (5 foot 4 inches). So I'm either on the "low side of good" - but I don't want to get TOO low, or I'm actually underweight by just a bit, depending on where you want to put the definition of "underweight".

Here’s the first stretch of pictures from my hospital stay – I brought my camera this time!

Pictures are all under cuts, as usual – and pictures that I’d possibly classify as non-worksafe will be in the next entry…

( All pictures 320x240 (30K) - 39 of them... )