Mick McKellar Update--Day +51
Welcome news this morning! It seems the long hours in the cold, wet wraps are over, at least for now. My skin has been responding by peeling away and I may now only have to deal with steroid creams and more frequent showers for a few days.
I may even get a "pass" to spend a few hours in civilian clothes and wander about town tomorrow, before returning to my room. It seems my kidneys are functioning quite well -- so well the urologists may abandon me for a while.
Liver functions are improving as well. I now drink enough water for two people and have been able to avoid the hanging IV bags of fluids other than the IV steroids which they are tapering off. I am not out of the woods, but I think I can see a clearing or two.
Walking
Marian and I have been wandering about the buildings several times, once all the way to the 19th floor of the Gonda Building to view from the observation deck. They are nice long walks and I get to walk on the skywalks and see the city from one of higher vantage points. The exercise is necessary and not too tiring. Besides, how often do I get to walk with Marian, hand in hand through packed waiting rooms while dressed in a hospital gown?
Terror on the 15th floor
As Marian and I were coming down in the Gonda elevator from the 19th floor, the elevator stopped to let on additional passengers on the 15th floor. An older couple were waiting to get on, but when they caught sight of me in my hospital gown, wearing the Darth Mick mask, they backed away with fear in their eyes...all the way to the other side of the elevator bay and waited for another car. It was the first time I saw that kind of fear in other's eyes on my behalf.
Oddly enough, I have more to fear from them, than anything they could fear from me. Or, maybe it was just the sight of peeling lobster man in a gown. However, it never seemed to phase any other visitors or passengers. Marian and I wandered through packed waiting rooms to get to the observation decks on the floors and to walk the skywalks, most getting smiles and a chuckle or two (no, my gown was not open in the back).
I cannot blame the couple for their fear, Lord knows what information they might just have received or what they are waiting to hear. Perhaps it is simply the atmosphere around Mayo Clinic, where you are surrounded constantly by folks with masks, wheelchairs, beeping IV pumps -- all moving back and forth in the halls. Medical professionals, doctors, nurses, aides, etc. are constantly on the move. This is one of the busiest places full of sick people and care givers I have ever seen. We walk on by with my gown blowing in the breeze with hardly a side-look or notice. It is an amazing place.
Comings and goings
For me, one of the most impressive places is the main doors, where patients are dropped off and picked up by the wildest variety of specialty cabs, vans, personal vehicles, and shuttles imaginable. It never stops and the clinic has a cadre of helpers to get wheelchair folks to and from their rides, shuttles are announced as they arrive, often opening up to let off passengers in wheelchairs or with specialized walkers, etc. Just keeping the flow of this mixture of private vehicles and other vehicles moving is an amazing dance that goes on all day. We watch while waiting for the Gold Star Patient shuttle, the one that takes us from here to the transplant house and back (unless we walk the five or six blocks).
Touring, even?
What a panorama of motion and emotion in constant commotion. And the buildings are designed to be beautiful. We hope to take a tour of the artwork throughout the Mayo Clinic when I am feeling better. It is quite a tour, I hear. And there are two extremely beautiful chapels at St. Mary's Hospital (about ten blocks away) we hope to visit. One is supposed to be large as a basilica, the other much smaller and more intimate.
Looking Up
As you can see, I have great hopes of getting past this current roadblock and getting on with the healing. Your prayers and thoughts, letters and e-mails, cards and chants are helping me every day I can feel it, as can Marian.
Just want to say thank you again and to pass along the wonderful news about not having to linger for three and and a half hours in the cold wet wrappings now -- just getting greased up twice a day and staying warm. What a blessing!
God bless you all,
Mick