Number 4: (day twenty-one) Dose

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I’m not entirely sure I should still be referring to these photos as part of number four on my list…I was uninspired by a few of the prompts, took only out of focus photos for a day or two (I’ll blame it on the camera – I desperately need to take it in to have the sensor cleaned – but in reality I’m sure I’m as much to blame), and then was way-laid by some medical problems for a few days so the last two days were shots from my phone….and this one definitely has nothing to do with the daily prompts! I’ll keep picking up the camera for the rest of the month, and maybe I’ll try again to actually get a full month of photos in the spring.

This is the dose of meds I’m taking every six hours for the next three days. The little one is for nausea, because the eight big ones are for bleeding and have historically made me sick to my stomach. Luckily, that little one is holding it’s own…small but mighty!

Referring to medical problems and showing you photos of this many pills make it seem much more serious than it was (and is), but it turns out I had some polyps on my colon that needed removing. Unfortunately, the way you find out you have polyps on your colon is via hemorrhaging in your GI tract…and I have a bleeding disorder, so I bleed about three times more than the average person. Something that for normal folks is nothing but a doctors appointment and a follow-up out patient procedure was three and a half days in the hospital for me, hooked up to a heart monitor and with no fewer than four blood draws each day so that they could monitor my blood levels. You don’t mess with bleeding when someone has a blood disorder, so there is a lot of overly cautious medicating and checking and monitoring. Fun times! I honestly have very little to complain about – I have great friends and family who kept me well cared for and entertained (even from afar!), and I had amazing care from all of the nurses and doctors that I dealt with. I couldn’t have been happier with every single person I dealt with through the entire weekend.

Number 4: (day twenty) Itsy-Bitsy

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I was so excited to eat my first real meal since Thursday night, and then it showed up and the serving was itsy-bitsy. :( You better believe I loved it though! You don’t go 84 hours without a legit meal and not appreciate one – regardless of serving size.

*More on my weekend here.

Number 4: (day nineteen) Workspace

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This isn’t the view from my work space, it’s the view from my window at Club MGH* over dinner – the sun setting over Cambridge and the Charles River. Not bad, hey? All of the nurses and doctors told me I had the best view on the floor. I’m pretty sure that this view would make any work day a little bit better.

*About why I was there.

Number 4: (day thirteen) Makes You Laugh

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Barley, when he is not being an outright jerk, is a very sweet clown. When I’m working from home, there is usually a point in the afternoon where he insists on being in my lap, despite the fact that there isn’t much room for him there. If I deny him, this is what happens. Well, first, he’ll stand on his hind legs with his front paws on the arm of the chair or on my thigh, begging me to let him up. Then when I ignore him, he settles into this stink eye.

It’s a really good think he’s so cute (and also warm).

Number 4: (day twelve) A Shadow

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I was all comfy and warm on the living room cough, listening to WBUR, when Pete got home from the grocery store. I told him that he could turn off the radio and listen to/watch whatever he wanted, and he chased me out of the room by choosing to watch an Ozzy Osbourne concert DVD. I sat down at the desk in the office to transfer, edit, and upload photos from the weekend, and then looked up and saw this. I grabbed the camera, took two quick shots, and then sat down and transferred them to the computer. Before the photos had even finished transferring, these shadows were gone.