Goodbye steroids

Dad came with another batch of lemon kale yesterday. It's pretty amazing how much kale it takes to make a single serving of kale on a plate. I ate up all that kale and was ready for more, but now my parents have to go collect a heaping load of kale, get the chunky stems out, and cook it all down till it fits in a neat little container.

It's not just kale. I've been hungry for everything in general. A couple days ago I must have polished off about a pound of leftover nachos. After eating the lunch provided by the hospital. It's good to have an appetite, and pretty miraculous under the circumstances, but it's hard to keep up with. So far today I've had peanut butter oatmeal, greek yogurt with homemade granola, two slices of bacon, a strawberry protein shake, two tea-flavored Kit-Kats, dover sole, rice, asparagus, and a banana with almond butter. And dinner is still a ways off. I've lost about ten pounds so far in the hospital, and I know I can't attribute that to the amount of food I've been eating.

Since I was so excited about the kale yesterday, and had some energy, I was inspired to walk the hospital stairs. I'd been meaning to mail a postcard for a few days, and I finally worked out where the mailbox is. It's a really old-timey looking affair, all metal and art deco. I couldn't figure out at first where the letters actually went. Good thing for me someone else was mailing a letter at the same time and showed me where the slot was. So I know it must still be in service.

I'd walked down to the first floor to stick the postcard in the slot, and decided to walk back up to the fifth floor. I don't like taking the elevator in the hospital during normal hours anyway. The spaces are so enclosed and I feel like there are germs hanging in there waiting to get me. All the sick people take the elevator. But all the healthy, energetic people take the stairs, and the stairwell is nice and airy. Besides the railings, I don't feel like I'm walking through a petri dish. I haven't climbed so many stairs in a while, and it felt like it took forever, but by the time I got back to my unit it had been less than five minutes.

When Dad came I made him walk the stairs again, this time all the way up to the ninth floor. Then we explored each floor of the hospital on the way back down to the fifth. There wasn't a lot to see. The fifth floor is open and you can walk around and not get stopped anywhere. But it seems like every other floor has a check-in area that you're not supposed to go beyond. If you do, they'll ask if you're lost or need help.

I think that was probably my last stair climb for a while. This morning I could finally tell that I was no longer on steroids. I started getting ready to take a shower, got lightheaded, and had to sit down and eat a full breakfast before I could keep going. I haven't even left my room yet today. I'm back to feeling like sitting up, listening to music, and moisturizing are perfectly acceptable forms of exercise.

What's your cop-out exercise?

Best kept secret on the block, Rose Medical Center nachos