Historically, I’ve always been more of a night person. I can’t remember ever having a bedtime and by elementary school I had already set myself upon a horrible sleeping schedule by staying up way too late. Something about the night always kept me more awake and more focused than during the daytime. Culturally speaking, TV shows only start getting good around eight o’clock and sports games never end before midnight. Also, as much as I would love to hit up the afternoon matinee, going to the movies at night is a lot more practical. Besides these obvious “advantages” of the late night, I always got a lot more accomplished when the moon is out. During the day you have to juggle a job, school, errands, bills, mail, and everything else that closes before 5 pm. But once the sun sets, you are free to focus on anything or nothing at all. You can choose to watch TV, do some work, or just go to sleep. And without everything being piled on you at once, I’ve always seemed able to focus on one thing at a time.
When I got sick and began having trouble falling asleep, this all became even more strikingly clear. Almost all of these blog posts were thought of or written at night. I did better work at night and my mind just seemed more at ease. Since the upgrade, though, it has been a completely different story. My days have been filled and my nights have been empty and painful. During the day, I have the energy to take longer walks, eat a lot, and I feel relatively pain-free. Although my mind is still slowly catching up to the rest of my body, I now have the fortitude to write these posts during the day. But when dusk hits the sky, my stomach starts to hurt more, I get extremely tired, and my body starts to break down a little. This was particularly evident right when I got home from the hospital on Thursday night. That night, as well as the next two after that, I began to get a fever during my sleep. At around 3 am I woke up with a temp of around 100.7 and as the night progressed, it waivered up and down in the hundred range. Only once day broke at around noon did my fever finally subside and come back within a normal range.
At first my doctors were not too concerned with the low grade temperature, especially since it only occurred at night and was not met with any other symptoms. But on Sunday I had a routine check-up and my blood cultures came back positive for bacteria. In order to be on the safe side so close to transplant, the doctors decided it would be best to come back to the hospital and make sure everything is ok. I checked in to Columbia again last night and now have a slew of tests ordered to check me out. My hope is to be out in time for the holiday of Sukkot on Friday and my doctors have told me that there is a strong possibility of that happening.
Of course, there’s nowhere worse than the hospital to get a good night sleep. Last night I checked in at 9:30 pm and at most got four hours of sleep between tests, meds,blood, and doctor visits. I’d like to think of my sudden change from a night owl to a day tripper as a fitting metaphor to the passing of the dark hours behind me and the light and sunny days ahead. In all honesty, though, it could just be a consequence of my surroundings, and I’ll once again fall into a bad sleeping habit in no time. In the meantime, though, I’m just gonna enjoy the sun and the pleasant walks. And so all I can say until then is “Have a great day!”
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