The Latest From Room 810

Well, after not eating almost all day yesterday and getting very desperate for something tasty enough to overpower the taste of chemo drugs, Richard bit the bullet and called my dad last night and asked for a burger and a coke from Wendy's.

Dad delivered, much to Richard's delight. Finally, some calories!!

The next morning (this morning), Richard was feeling pretty darned good, but overdid it a bit. He started getting trigger happy with his toothbrush and went to brush his tongue and that just put him over the edge.

But, he's been good since. When I arrived, Richard was sitting at his 'office' by the window looking so handsome, as always. Shortly, the last of the 7 days of Cytarbine drained. Richard even got to take a shower! He was stoked. That drained a lot of energy got his dressings changed for the Hickman Line, and our favourite nurse brought him some lovely Lorazepam to help him calm down from some consecutive stomach muscle spasms he was having.

Here arehis counts since he arrived...

Tuesday 16th - Tuesday 23rd
White Blood count : 5.7, 3.8, ?, 1.9, 2.0, 1.2, .7, .5
normal is 4-11
Haemoglobin: 88, 84, 82, 73, 92, 82, 79
normal is 130, and they transfuse at <80
Platelets: 23, 19, 13, 10, 16, 11, 11, 7
normal is 150-400, and they tranfuse <10

Right now, they just finished giving him some platelets and he's now getting some red/haemoglobin.

Now he just stays here and they try to keep him healthy and getting healthier. They've been giving him anti-viral and anti-fungal stuff today. Anything to keep him safe while his immune system is low to non-existent.

My drive was pretty good. A little delay, but nothing to complain about.

Wes came for a visit today (my girlfriend, Ryan's husband who works in North Van, I think...lol). He really caught Richard on a good day.

I was able to get Richard some onion rings from the cafeteria. It was really hard for him to figure out what he wanted to eat. Too bland means he'll only taste chemicals, and lots of flavour is the best bet, but he really needs to have a craving for it. Onion rings it was. He was able to choke down a bit of the egg salad sandwich for his hospital lunch, but that was it.

Soon, I'll leave to go get the boys from Erica. If I'm lucky, I'll make it back in time to pick up a hose and sprinkler from Home Depot that I meant to buy last week.