Daddy and Gingerbread

Daddy's Home!

*****When I wrote this, I didn't realize that Richard had already just updated his blog!

We have Daddy home!

For a few days?

For a few weeks?

Forever?

Who knows!

Although Richard is feeling better and better each day, they like to remind him that it could change in an instant. Nice, hey? Oh well, I do like to hope-for-the-best-and-prepare-for-the-worst like a boyscout anyhow, so I guess that works.

I hope Richard will give you the much more detailed details, but here's the dealio for now...

Richard was hoping that his appointments were going to go down to twice a week (mon/thurs), meaning he could come home and commute the two days in.

Norma headed home on Friday morning. - Bye Norma! Thanks so much for being here! Give Bud big hugs from all of us!

At his Friday appointment (during which Richard kept calling me to update me), it was looking like they were going to bring him in on Sunday now because he needs the saline. It has something to do with his liver and some complications and they need to keep flushing him. I'll tell him to talk about that on his blog.

So why bring him in on Sunday and then again on Monday? Which would mean that he would stay at the lodge intstead of at home...
Well, you see: Remember how Richard said that this time, he's on the research-drug track? Well, this drug that's already being used in Europe to help prevent Graft vs. Host Disease (GVHD), can cause Epsteine Barr, so they have to watch for that. It just so happens that gets tested for every Monday. So, he has to come in on Mondays, regardless. Supposedly, about 95% of the adult population has this virus (in an immunity kind of form), but you don't want it to increase or something like that. They test for it on Mondays. If the levels have increased, then he has to come in for 3 days in a row to get some sort of medication for it. That would mean that he would stay at the lodge instead of at home. The other thing that would be a problem and keep him at the lodge would be if he goes in on Monday and he has a fever. That would mean that he would have to come in for appointments for the next 7 days in a row to get antibiotics which would mean that he would stay at the lodge instead of at home.

Back to the story of getting him home. I decided that I was going to leave the house with the boys to see Richard, regardless. If he wasn't going to come home with us, at least we'd get a visit. If he was going to come home with us, at least I would be there already and we could get home before the horrid traffic that is a Friday afternoon commute. YIKES!

It's a good thing I was heading out there. What I didn't realize was that Richard was coming home for the weekend whether or not he had a Sunday appointment.

In the end, he did not have a Sunday appointment! He had to wiggle his way out of it and bend the rules a litttle. You see, he needed the saline. It is more difficult to get through the bureaucratic red tape of letting him come to Abbotsford (that has a Cancer ward, but uses different hook up lines and is part of Fraser Health Authority, not Coastal Health Authority like VGH) than it is to just give him everything he needs to go home and hook himself up to a bag of saline himself via IV through his Hickman Line! Can you believe it!?

I should've taken a picture! This morning, he spent 1.5 hours laying on our bed (after letting me sleep in until 8am!) hooked up to a bag of Saline that was dripping in from a coat rack that we brought upstairs from the garage and a bungee hook!

But it meant not having to go in until Monday. He may stay overnight at the lodge on Monday anyhow. Evidently, the results from the Epstein Barr test, don't come back until the day, meaning he wouldn't know until Tuesday whether or not he needed to come in for the next few days and he doesn't want to lose his spot at the lodge. He'd be hooped!

I do remind him though, that he'd never be stuck because my dad lives only about 20 minutes away and Richard could always bunk there, but he'd have to live off the contents of a bachelor refrigerator that has just ground coffee, pickle juice, water, and perhaps one egg inside. Good luck with that, Richard! You might luck out. There may be peanut butter in there.

We'll see if that little dig encourages my dad to post a comment on here, shall we?

So that's what I mean when I say that I don't know how long he's home for. I'm feeling positive that he'll be home permanently now and just commuting, but I don't want to jinx myself or him!

But we'll enjoy him here while he's here!

Dexter once again, didn't leave Richard's side on the couch last night. AJ was at a sleepover, but he did get to give Daddy a hug and see Daddy this morning! Thanks for the sleepover, Erica!

Love you, Richard!

Auntie-Kim-Wednesday

On Wednesday, Auntie Kim made use of the Gingerbread House kit that I picked up at Michael's.

Thanks, Auntie Kim!









Me?
I'm fine, thanks for asking!