Monday, January 5, 2026 – Day 510

Monday, January 5, 2026

Andy’s Army – ALS United Chicago Marathon
Current fundraising total: $6,247 
To donate, click the hamburger ☰ in the top right corner and select 🎗️ Fundraiser

Good morning, everyone.

It was the perfect morning to hit snooze and sleep in—uninterrupted sleep continues to be elusive. Between the machines, the pillows, the pee,,and the phlegm (which I’m fairly certain is trying to choke me), my nights are anything but restful.

Since today marks the official end of the holiday break—school’s back in session and everyone’s returning to work—I wanted to show my solidarity with those who must rise and shine and face the day head-on. I recall this being the most difficult week out of the year to work. It’s dark, bitter cold, and the next holiday isn’t until February.

Yesterday, the home nurse came over—fully masked—to give Cindy and me the IV immunity boost. I wasn’t even planning to do it since I’ve been feeling fine, while the people around me are the ones getting sick. Cindy is closing in on two weeks with her cold and still shows no signs of beating whatever she caught.

Before I knew it, the IV cocktail was mixed (about the same color as pee), a good vein was identified, and I was getting prepped for one liter of fluid. I had just finished my midday formula feeding when the nurse arrived. Between the formula and water a feeding gives me ~900 ml of fluid—so once the IV finished, I was going to be floating in nearly two liters of fluid.

The whole process took about an hour. Plenty of time for me to moan and groan about the needle stick—because who actually enjoys that part? I proactively peed beforehand, but once the needle was in, I kept watching the drip rate…and it was slow. Watching that line gave me anxiety. If my bladder decided to have one of its excitable moments, well…that could’ve turned into a problem.

The second the IV bag ran dry, I hightailed it to the upstairs bathroom—shouting my goodbyes and thanks from the stairlift as the nurse packed up and headed out.

I made it to the toilet without incident and decided to stay upstairs for the rest of the day. A wise move. I parked myself on the bed, turned on the Packers–Vikings game (a stinker) followed by Bears–Lions (not much better), placed a urinal on my wheelchair, and didn’t move much after that. Between 1:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., I peed seven times. Then once I went to bed, I was up four more times during the night. No wonder my sleep scores sucks.

I’m curious how this immunity boost works. There is a whole lot of cold and flu season in front of us. I still have to be careful to ovoid anything that could stress out my respiratory system. All these machines (ventilators-2, cough assistI, so suction) I have to manage my airway, may not be enough. Yikes!😱

Everyone have a great day. Love you guys! ❤️

Photos and IV cocktails courtesy of Nurse Kim. Thank you for the immunity boost. Cindy had the comfort dog to calm her.