A Room with a View

Wednesday, February 5th

The day did not start out well.  Building indigestion over the night finally caught up to me and caused me to vomit.  I was a little concerned at first at the red coloring (sorry for graphic details) but quickly realized that it was red velvet cake from the previous night and not blood.  After having made it through the chemo course fine, I was a little deflated that I now had an upset stomach.  The issue, as I understand it, is that the chemo has slowed the process where cells regenerate quickly.  Besides doing the damage against the cancer, it means that the inside of your mouth, esophagus, and stomach are not regenerating either.  One of the biggest concerns for people on chemo is developing mouth sores that then become the origin of an infection site.  The same process also slows the regeneration of your hair follicles and that's why hair falls out. I still have most of mine actually, sometimes I think it seems thinner, but I still haven't experienced major hair loss.

Joanne came up to visit for the day again and we had some more good news.  The lead Oncologist stopped by and reiterated that the testing was all coming back very positive and he was now 95% sure a marrow transplant was not in the future.  There is still one more test result outstanding, but he was feeling very good at this point.  He admitted to us that when I came in with a WBC over 200,000 and 97% blast cells, that there was likely going to be a mutation we would have to deal with down the road.  All good news and it's great when Joanne can be here to listen to it all first hand and ask questions.

The second piece of good news was that the patient in the 'big' room was going home today and I would get to transfer out the broom closet I have been in the last week since they moved me up to this floor.  Now I'm in a penthouse with a great view of the lakes out back of the hospital, more room for people to visit, a small table and some chairs for my 'office', and plenty of room for the Xbox 360 now when the kids come to play.  (Ok, I've played it a few times myself).  Joanne brought up a bunch of photos that my kids took on the beach and then made into decorative frames.  I can't emphasis enough the therapeutic value of making the hospital room into a nice place to stay for someone in long-term or even short-term care.  Wearing one's own clothes and customizing the space a little makes me feel much more normal, I have to believe that would hold true for anyone in this setting.

Joanne took off for Vero and my Mom and sister came in for dinner & cake as it was my mom's birthday!  Cynthia also surprise me with a card full of gift cards from her exercise group at her gym.  I don't know any of them, but they obviously felt a strong desire to support my sister during this time.  It feels so good to see the ongoing outreach from unexpected places.

I tried to take it easy on the food for lunch and dinner moving to bland foods; creamy soup, grilled cheese, mac & cheese.  But by the time I was ready for bed a major bout of indigestion and a low grade fever started to descend on me.  I took some Tylenol and have become reacquainted with an old friend - Saltine's!

The new view makes some things better.