Return of the Chemo

We're at the hospital again today. Tim's blood counts were so high throughout the first cycle that he did not need a single blood transfusion, which we're told is a very good thing. He took the opportunity to get ill last week and recovered at a relatively regular rate. As a result of his maintained blood counts, though, they increased the dosage to give him a more intense round for this cycle, so there is a chance that the side effects of this cycle will be more severe than for the last.


Speaking of ill, I am. Consequently, when I am cooking for us I get to utilize the lovely masks that mother graciously gifted us with, which one individual in our household finds endlessly entertaining and about which the other gets almost equally grumpy. Another effect of my cold is that T may be going to stay with his family this week. When he is wearing the chemo bags, he gets nervous about catching the tubes on something. As our apartment isn't exactly colossal, he feels a tad squeezed in the home space, another reason to visit his parents' more spacious abode. I'm all for it, as it will afford me time to clean and do schoolwork, but I wish he would have told me before we dropped a load of cash stocking up on superfoods last night. Le sigh. If he thinks it's that easy to avoid my sauteed kale, he's another thing coming...there will be a plate prepared and waiting for his return on Friday!

We obtained a second car this past weekend, so we'd like to give a shout out to my parents and Becky for that. Ever distrustful of Chicago drivers, my dad lent my sister one of his cars and she gave us hers for the time being, so now T can drive himself to the hospital and to work when he is feeling well enough to do so. Now we're rockin' two Chevy Cavaliers at our place, Goldie and Corn Hunter. This should definitely make things easier for us. Thanks, fam!


We took advantage of fall a bit ago with Tim's family by visiting an apple orchard near their house.

Awesomeness...

I'm happy to report that Tim's blood counts were high enough on Friday that he did not need a blood transfusion! We go in Tuesday for what will possibly be his first. The shot that they gave him to make the blood counts go up more quickly is still causing some flu-like symptoms and he has a bit of a cold on top of that, so he's not exactly comfortable right now. However, he is in elevated spirits because of the high counts and he should be able to kick the cold pretty normally. Right now it's just tons of rest and vitamin C for him. We are at his parents' house this weekend and are going to have dinner tonight with family and our friend Josh. I think he rests best here; in fact, he's napping as I type...perfect opportunity to squeeze in some homework!

Fungus Factories

Today, T and I went in for him to get some blood work done. His white blood cell count is just in the normal range despite the chemo, which is a plus. It is considerably lower than before the chemo, which is expected. We'll find out from Dr. G exactly what that means next week, but the nurse who works closest with him said it is a good thing.

While we sat in the lobby, a man wearing street clothes and a surgical mask (presumably due to a compromised immune system) walked in and asked the receptionists for a wheelchair to take him to his car. He happened to leave at the same time as us and as we were waiting for the elevator, he informed us that we should wear shoes in a hospital. He asked if we were "trying to make a fashion statement," at which point we discerned that we had unconsciously agitated him by wearing flip-flops to our appointment. He called our feet "fungus factories." The security guard pushing the wheelchair rolled his eyes and we waited for the next elevator.