Week One Done

Rosina can hear Dr. Dunhill coming because of her nice shoes. No white reeboks for her. The first few times we met her she was wearing a black dress which we decided, while flattering for her, is not what you want to see your Oncologist wearing. Rosina's been working on it and it's their running joke. She's very nice. I spoke to her on Friday and in general she said Rosina is doing well. She hasn't had any strong nausea or other side effects. One day she actually felt a little worse from the anti-nausea meds themselves. Her White Blood Count had been pretty steady at 2.0, but today (Sunday) it came in at 1.6. Normal range is 4 - 10. So 1.6 is obviously low. The nurse put a "Neutropenic" sign on the outside of the door - restricted food, healthy vistors only etc. With many kinds of cancer, when you are getting chemo and your white blood count gets really low, they may hold off a bit on the treatment to let it go back up, but not with this. The point of this treatment is to take your white blood count to zero. This is why you have to stay in the hospital the whole time. Chemotherapy is both miraculous and barbaric. It works, but it's tough. It's like a controlled burn.

This is a little wider on Rosina's room. Will and Nina are on the floor under the window watching a movie. The IV rack next to Rosina holds two things - an IV for hydration, and the one on the right is her fifth bag of Cytarabine, the second chemo drug. Each one drips for 24 hours; she has two to go. I read that sometimes they recommend that people who are getting chemo flush the toilet twice, because porcelain is porous and your urine is considered hazardous waste! The other counts being watched are Hemoglobins and Platelets. They are both dropping and that means transfusions - both whole blood and platelets. When your platelets drop you need to start being careful about any kind of bleeding, so no shaving, and even brushing your teeth becomes something to be careful about. Several people have come in to give blood - we thank you! If you would like to give blood in a "directed donation" for Rosina, email her or me and we can get your name on the list. By the way, they always need all types of blood if you're so inclined - free cookies.

The food continues to be stellar, and by "stellar", I mean a black hole. That's a kind of star. The kind that sucks. Several people have brought some food to the house or to the hospital and it is greatly appreciated. It needs to be home made, though, none of that stinky restaurant food. They gave Rosina a feedback questionairre about the food, and as she checked the "fair" and "poor" boxes, she said "Hey, I've got Leukemia, they can take it." I saw two hospital nutritionists in the elevator. They didn't look healthy.

Jake came in on Friday. He spent the week at Computer Camp, or "nerd camp" as he calls it, where you might think they debate the merits of dynamic IPs with PPPoE vs staic IPs with DHCP, but really, they do the same stuff he does at home all the time except that he wears an ID badge and has to walk across the UCLA campus to eat breakfast. He's been to this camp before, and once when we picked him up, the counselor said, "Jake's great, he showed me a lot of cool stuff" Okay, so why don't you give me $900? We did finally get the internet working in her room (because it's PPoE with a dynamic IP of course) and Rosina has access to email and is able to read the blog and the comments. Please leave them (or email her) they are always a bright spot!

Her mood is generally good, but it's a strain, and we can tell that the tough stuff is coming. This morning she had some pains and almost fainted. Her head is itchy. These things are creeping in. She is often bright and chipper and then the other reality intrudes. It's like that feeling of swimming in a lake and suddenly you're in a cold spot. Positive thoughts, love, friendship...timeless lasting things are of tremendous value. We've put up lots of photos on the wall and if you want to email me one, I can include it. Glad to hear from so many of you that the blog is helpful and meaningful. Thanks. Leave hellos for z! xo ph