Richard Has Been Admitted

I am sitting here with Richard at VGH. He has been admitted.

It was a very nice drive. No rush hour to contend with. Nice and quiet. Really nice nurse. Really nice doctor (resident). Everything was really nice. Beautiful view of False Creek and the Bowmac sign. Richard's up on the 15th floor.

He apparently had a slight low grade fever, so they're giving him some antibiotics. Personally, we think their thermometer is off, as Richard's personal thermometer which read the same as the ones on the daycare ward had him reading lower. But whatever.

They've also got him hooked up to a big bag of sugar water. Mmmmmm. It's huge. He'll be peeing all night.

We discovered another possible bonus to the Leukemia... 'free dental'. lol. Richard's had some pressing dental work that's needed to be done that we had to put off a bit and then with his recent diagnosis, it got totally ignored. With him undergoing the chemo and having this cracked crown that was absessed, they'll have the on site dentist checking over him to make sure he's okay.

Richard and I were talking about the new commercial we'd make inspired by the mastercard commercial....

Downtown Vancouver Waterfront View - Free
Dental - Free
Quick Weightloss - Free

The cost? - Leukemia

Bummer.

The resident doctor up on this floor gave us the run down of the schedule and what to expect with the chemo.

7 and 3 - 7 days of Cytarabin and then 3 days of Daunorubicin

on about the 14th day they're going to check him (another bone marrow biopsy). They figure that the first bout of chemo should kill it all, but even if it shows up as all gone, they still have to assume there's some still floating around and then he gets a different drug (unlike cancer, when you're removing a tumor, this is cells, so you are only seeing a sampling of them). Altogether it seems like 30 days, but the doctor wouldn't be surprised if Richard got to come home as an outpatient after only about 21. If the chemo doesn't get it all, then he'll start another round.

I politely inquired again about the Abbotsford Cancer Clinic, reiterating that, of course, we want the best care, BUT... if and when he becomes an outpatient, it would be great if Richard didn't have to travel to and from VGH every day. This doctor said they'd look into it. YAY.

But for now, we'll focus on Richard getting the best care he can at VGH. Really nice people here. Very nice.

It's about 9:00pm. I don't want to walk to the parkade by myself in the dark, so I'll probably head home soon. Hopefully, Richard will read this and post some more details on his blog later for those who are interested in more details, such as the timing and the side effects.

Oh yah, and after working on packing this hospital bag for almost a week, he forgot his toiletries bag and his favourite comfy shorts. So, he has no where to store his contacts...lol.

I'll bring it all to him on Wednesday when I'm back.

Thanks again Erica, Kim, Mom, Paul, and Jill for today.
Thanks again to everyone who's been giving their well wishes.