Day 148
It's raining in Seattle - not the passing cloud we have known so far, but a hard, cold rain from low scudding clouds that promise more of the same for days. John will be content, most likely, to rest on the mattress he pulled out into the living room in front of the TV and Play Station. Lying down, he says, eases the soreness from his various tests. Both he and Debbie will sleep late, a talent I never developed. She will get cabin fever, perhaps later in the day, and we might brave the weather to visit one of the many places here worth seeing, but John won't want to go.
Some things you can predict, but others, like John's future, are hard to know. We are here with hope where he will have the best chance of success by far, and we are vastly more fortunate than even most other patients that are here, because of all those who have allowed and helped us be able to drop so much of everything and come. Even the smallest kindnesses, have been and are invaluable.
While the rain was sweeping in yesterday, John had a CAT scan and a heart exam, a fairly light day, which was a relief for him, because of the soreness from his biopsies of Thursday. As just one example of how good this center is, the duty nurse called us after hours to report that the lung spots from his last scan in Atlanta had cleared (fluid that could lead to incurable fungal infection). She adjusted his medications accordingly, asked about his discomfort and prescribed a painkiller. We were able to drive over to the clinic and pick it up that evening.
We should get the results of John's tests back next week and can only hope that he remains in remission. His type of leukemia doesn't usually last that way for long without repeated chemotherapy. Because he has been slow to recover, they haven't been able to continue the treatments as often as most, so timing the transplant to be soon is important. His seeming current good health is thus a mixed blessing.
One thing John would really like is to find a friend somwhere here. The clinic assigns a volunteer to each patient and that may help, but he still misses his friends in Atlanta. Yesterday morning he told me he "married" one by long distance call the night before.
For now, it is back to the rain and some breakfast.
Some things you can predict, but others, like John's future, are hard to know. We are here with hope where he will have the best chance of success by far, and we are vastly more fortunate than even most other patients that are here, because of all those who have allowed and helped us be able to drop so much of everything and come. Even the smallest kindnesses, have been and are invaluable.
While the rain was sweeping in yesterday, John had a CAT scan and a heart exam, a fairly light day, which was a relief for him, because of the soreness from his biopsies of Thursday. As just one example of how good this center is, the duty nurse called us after hours to report that the lung spots from his last scan in Atlanta had cleared (fluid that could lead to incurable fungal infection). She adjusted his medications accordingly, asked about his discomfort and prescribed a painkiller. We were able to drive over to the clinic and pick it up that evening.
We should get the results of John's tests back next week and can only hope that he remains in remission. His type of leukemia doesn't usually last that way for long without repeated chemotherapy. Because he has been slow to recover, they haven't been able to continue the treatments as often as most, so timing the transplant to be soon is important. His seeming current good health is thus a mixed blessing.
One thing John would really like is to find a friend somwhere here. The clinic assigns a volunteer to each patient and that may help, but he still misses his friends in Atlanta. Yesterday morning he told me he "married" one by long distance call the night before.
For now, it is back to the rain and some breakfast.
