If best intentions hold steady, I’ll be returning to work in some capacity in less than a week’s time. A week is an important psychological boundary for me. When I thought to myself, “I’ve still got a week before I need to go back,” I felt comfortable in knowing that no matter how tired I felt at the moment, I still had a significant amount of time to build up strength. I think it’s analogous to the $999 price point for computers… or maybe not. In either case, I’m down to less than a week; so I decided to put [...]
Cancer
Beware of area code 352
My wife thinks I’m being silly. But that’s not news. My latest adventure down the road to lunacy involves my alma mater: The University of Florida. It was about mid-April when I received my very first solicitation for money. “Can we count on your donation of $1000?” If I had been drinking it would have shot from my nose in a fountain of incredulity. “Ah, no.” “Can we count on your donation of $500?” “You’re still cold, but your getting warmer.” “How about $250?” “Would you take $100?” And there it was. I had agreed to send my old school; [...]
She’s killing me with kindness
If you’ve read any of my previous posts, you know all about cancerboy… so I won’t rehash my physical condition to date. But keeping it in mind, how do you suppose my body would respond to a sudden spike in physical activity? That’s where my wife comes in. She thought it would be a great idea to get me a Wii for father’s day. She gave it to me tonight so we’d all have the weekend to give it a workout. Mind you, this afternoon I worked up the energy to do some laundry for the first time. Now, it’s [...]
Slow and steady
Today was the first day since the chemotherapy started that I can honestly say I enjoyed. No, the cancerboy isn’t back to 100 percent; not even 75 if truth be told. There was this unfortunate incident with a plunger and a toilet that I don’t even want to talk about, other than to say the ordeal left me physically drained. Although, working out your plumbing related issues with the business end of a big stick could do that to anyone. The secret to today’s upswing was striking a bit of genealogical gold. I’ve been doing a little work trying to [...]
This is home
Friday was a strange day. I had spent the last two weeks in a single isolated room. Despite the disruptions, the rhythmic noises of the hospital slowly became what was “normal.” Then just as abruptly as the hospital stay began, it ended. When I got home nothing seemed normal anymore. Everything was off, down to the smell. I asked Cheryl if she’d sprayed something or changed any of the cleaning products; but no, everything was the same… save for me. I can imagine it might have been the same after taking a long vacation… but I haven’t done that in [...]
WHAT?!?
The oncologist just left my room. My WBC is up to 3400 and my platelets are in the normal range. But most importantly… he said I could go home today. I still have to get a sign-off from my other two doctors, but they seemed to be taking their cues from him. It’s a little hard not to get my hopes up at this point.
For once I was right
I have a lot of experience being a visitor in a hospital. When it comes time to leave, I’ve often thought that evenings must be the most lonely time. If you’re visiting someone in the hospital, you’re almost always leaving someone behind when you go. Evening seems like a time when a lot of people might be leaving people behind. In a few hours I’ll have been in this hospital for two weeks, and I haven’t had one moment when I’ve felt profoundly alone. Not when a good nurse changed shifts. Not after friends had left after a nice visit. [...]
Must… stop… scratching
Foreword: I generally like my doctors. Sometimes I wonder if my doctor has a string in his back and someone gives it a pull every time he’s supposed to speak… “Good morning doctor.” “You’re looking good today.” “Yeah, but I can’t shake these fevers.” “Your blood cultures have been negative.” “Well this rash is killing me.” “You’re on a lot of medication.” “Is there any chance I’ll be going home soon?” “You’re looking good today.” “Is there anything else we can check, or anything else we can do?” “Your blood cultures have been negative.” “Do you know that you’re starting [...]
