A Walk on the Mild Side (A Look Back at Hotel Hope)

As soon as I learned that I could ignore the "Authorized Personnel Only" sign on one of the corridor doors, my Hotel Hope walking life blew wide open.

Instead of line pacing like an expectant father, I could trespass through the forbidden door and make one huge loop around the floor. My daily goal was to do 10 laps or 1.5 miles without my omnipresent dance partner (aka IV pole). (I love the guy, but he slows me down something fierce.)

On one of my "hospital rounds," my physical therapist asked if she could come along. I looked down at her short stature and shorter legs and said, "Sure, if you think you can keep up. I have long legs, and I know how to use them." It was like a Great Dane walking with a Pomeranian.

My walk started down a long, ghost-like corridor.

Two corridors later, I walked through the light-filled breezeway.

I enjoyed passing this patient in the next corridor. She almost always had a roomful of visitors from her familia grande.

My favorite part of the walk was my mini lap around the light-filled lobby.

Before I knew it, I was back in the corridor by my room. Just nine laps to go.

UPDATE: I went in for a complete blood count on Monday and found that my WBCs made a slight rise, my RBCs and hemoglobin are holding steady and my platelets took just a very minor dip since Saturday. To my surprise, I didn't need a platelet transfusion. I'll return for my next appointment on Thursday.

In the meantime, I'm getting lots of rest and feeling more energetic each day. I'm being very careful now about moving from horizontal to vertical to ambulatory. My blood pressure was so low on Sunday that I fainted and cut my finger on the way down. I was on the phone with Cindy and woke up when I heard her pleas of "Mom? Mom? MOM?!? Are you there? MOM!!!"