Day 48
Laura asked how things are going with John, so I owe you an update, I think. Given what he has, he is doing as well as anyone could be. He finished his first round of “consolidation” chemotherapy yesterday evening and so far has suffered only one bad bout of nausea - one I might add that was not attributable to my cooking! He has none of the rashes that covered his body the last time and no swelling in his feet. His heart test was fine and we see no evidence that the chemo has damaged any organs. They make every patient write his name and try to pat his head and rub his stomach on each visit to see if motor skills have been affected. For John, they just ask how his drawing is going. There are other long-term effects from chemotherapy that can occur. You may have read that Susan Sontag died of AML this past week. Hers was an aftereffect from chemotherapy she took back in the 1970s.
I can’t help but think of the treatments they have for cancer as today’s equivalent of the bloodletting they practiced hundreds of years ago. (That’s what killed George Washington). They send you to the brink of death on purpose, thinking the cancer will die first. Although it sometimes works, you have to hope they will find a better way.
Dad, John wants to come out maybe today with me and get his boxes of comics from upstairs. Let me know your schedule. We plan to keep him isolated here pretty much for the next couple of weeks, as his immune system dies and returns again. He is getting just a bit stir crazy, but is much happier here than in the hospital. He also thinks that our food is better – though that’s not saying much. Still, he is gaining weight back.
We have an appointment in Seattle on Wednesday, February 2 with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. It is the leading bone marrow transplant clinic in the world and the one with the best record for success. John should be able to travel again by then if he stays “healthy.” In the meantime, he has two checkups next week and we will meet with Emory’s bone marrow transplant team on Friday. Emory has started the search process, though the results are transferable to wherever we have the transplant done. They have chosen 6 candidates from the computer search of the database. All are males from the US and the oldest is 42. The protocols are that the national center contacts the local center where the candidate is, which then locates the candidate and obtains a fresh blood sample to retest and to check for any other diseases. All this means that we are at least a month or so away, but we are fortunate that John has responded to his treatments, so time is not as critical for him as it is for some.
The neighbor’s puppy leaves this morning, which is a relief! They had to travel to a funeral on short notice, so we kept their hyperactive, unhouse-trained mutt who hadn’t completed all her shots and so had to stay isolated.
Last night, as we were washing dishes, we heard screaming from the street beside the house. I ran out and found a girl from the neighborhood lying in the side of the street bleeding from having been hit in the head by someone who stole her purse and then jumped in a waiting car. Debbie called 911 and then her boyfriend and another friend, while I held her and the neighbors searched the area. She is going to be fine, but it was the worst incident we’ve seen in this part of Midtown since we’ve been here and another reminder of how quickly life can change. I know I really value and enjoy every day with John now in ways that are much more real and less caught up in unimportant things.
I’ll keep you posted more often.
I can’t help but think of the treatments they have for cancer as today’s equivalent of the bloodletting they practiced hundreds of years ago. (That’s what killed George Washington). They send you to the brink of death on purpose, thinking the cancer will die first. Although it sometimes works, you have to hope they will find a better way.
Dad, John wants to come out maybe today with me and get his boxes of comics from upstairs. Let me know your schedule. We plan to keep him isolated here pretty much for the next couple of weeks, as his immune system dies and returns again. He is getting just a bit stir crazy, but is much happier here than in the hospital. He also thinks that our food is better – though that’s not saying much. Still, he is gaining weight back.
We have an appointment in Seattle on Wednesday, February 2 with the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. It is the leading bone marrow transplant clinic in the world and the one with the best record for success. John should be able to travel again by then if he stays “healthy.” In the meantime, he has two checkups next week and we will meet with Emory’s bone marrow transplant team on Friday. Emory has started the search process, though the results are transferable to wherever we have the transplant done. They have chosen 6 candidates from the computer search of the database. All are males from the US and the oldest is 42. The protocols are that the national center contacts the local center where the candidate is, which then locates the candidate and obtains a fresh blood sample to retest and to check for any other diseases. All this means that we are at least a month or so away, but we are fortunate that John has responded to his treatments, so time is not as critical for him as it is for some.
The neighbor’s puppy leaves this morning, which is a relief! They had to travel to a funeral on short notice, so we kept their hyperactive, unhouse-trained mutt who hadn’t completed all her shots and so had to stay isolated.
Last night, as we were washing dishes, we heard screaming from the street beside the house. I ran out and found a girl from the neighborhood lying in the side of the street bleeding from having been hit in the head by someone who stole her purse and then jumped in a waiting car. Debbie called 911 and then her boyfriend and another friend, while I held her and the neighbors searched the area. She is going to be fine, but it was the worst incident we’ve seen in this part of Midtown since we’ve been here and another reminder of how quickly life can change. I know I really value and enjoy every day with John now in ways that are much more real and less caught up in unimportant things.
I’ll keep you posted more often.
