Home again

Wendy was kicked out of her room thim morning. White blood cell count was good enough.

Hurray!!

Waiting for the White Blood Cells

I've gone from zero to having some white blood cells since the weekend. I'm nowhere near the normal level yet, but slowly getting there. The doctors say if my white blood cound keeps going up, they'll let me out here in the next few days.

In the meantime, I've had lots of reading time sitting in my sunny south-facing window, Bothe oncology out patient waiting room and the lounge on 5 South have small collections of donated paperbacks, mostly the typical Danielle Steele/James Patterson type. However, I've read two really interesting books serendipitously found there: The Fox Boy, in which the author investigates and recounts the life of a Maori boy aducted by white European New Zealanders in the 1860s. With the focus, the book becomes a much larger story of the relatiohship between whites and Maoris so you learn quite a bit of New Zealand history.

My other find was Rudy Wiebe's "The Blue Mountains of China" - one of his early novels. It looks at the Russion Mennonite experience from 1929 whentheir farms and property were taken to become collectives, to the late 1960s. The interesing part is the structure - with different chapters from the perspective of different charaters, some related and some nterconnected as time goes on.

Now I'm reading Michael Ondaatje's "Divisadero", and dipping into Garrison Keillor's "Good Poesm" collection.

I'm getting Harvey to tpye and post this for me.

Wendy

Monday, April 28, 2008

Wendy's white blood count remains low, at the last report, so Wendy remains in the hospital. She has books and her notebook and I'm sure she's keeping a Journal. Ocassionally I'm sent home with something to type into this blog or send emails.

During my visits we've been playing Quiddler, a word game in which each person is dealt letters and must make up words and use up all the cards dealt. I've only won once out of the six games we've played. I may have to switch to cribbage to extract my revenge on her.

Our friend Jack visited on Friday evening and Lynn visited on Sunday evening. Nice breaks in our routine.

Wendy remains cheerful and positive. She's eating as well as their purtrid diet allows and drinking lots of fluid.

Harvey

The View from 5A South Friday, April 25

When the sun was shining earlier today, you could see the green spring fuzz of the buds on the trees and the grass is greening up. Harvey left at lunchtime, hoping to finish raking last autumn's leaves this afternoon. We have several large maples and are surrounded by many mature trees.

The sores in my mouth are healing and my throat is working better. They put me on a liquid diet this time and it was worked out much better. My blood counts are gradually improving so that I will have an immune system again by the time I leave. That won't happen till sometime after the weekend.

I found a Penguin Edition of Rudy Weibe's The Blue Mountains of China in the patient lounge. As I haven't read it yet, it is a delightful find (among the heart-throbbing romance novels) and I'm afraid I will finish it too quickly.

Wendy (typed by Harvey)

Moved to 5A South room 12

They found a single room for Wendy this morning and moved her there. Patients who are susceptable to infections are usually housed in single rooms to cut down on the risks. Handwashing rules still apply, as to the no flowers injunction and the prohibition on sick visitors. Wendy has to wear a mask when she leaves the room for a walk. (Still attached to her IV pump.)

According to the doc (Doctor Wendy Smith) she'll be in over the weekend as they build up her white blood count and stuff her full of antibiotics. She got a load of platelets yesterday and her temperature went up a degree. Not unheard of in the world of blood product transfusion. Her temperature is hovering around the normal mark now.

Lunch today was Cream of Celery soup, two containers of Chocolate instant breakfast, one container of Cranberry juice, one small container of milk and one banana. Lots of liquid.

Wendy is in good spirits, considering the situation, and the staff are friendly.

Harvey

From 5A South, room 2

Wendy's back in hospital with a very low white blood cell count and some infection. She's on IV antibiotics and waiting for the results of a bunch of tests they did this evening. It's not nearly as bad this time because she reported her symptoms right away. So they'll be pumping her full of stuff to kill all the bad germs and stuff to build up white blood cells. I'm hoping they offer her some medication for her throat this time.

You know, it's easy enough to handle the "Bridge out" sign on the road, but the damned little pot holes will get you every time.

It's Okay to visit but remember no flowers, wash your hands upon entry, and if you're sick, or you've been around sick people, don't visit.

Harvey

Feeding the tender Tummy, Part 5

To say Wendy's taste buds have changed, or her reaction to the smells of certain foods has changed, is an understatement. For example, anything to do with chicken or turkey has been banned from the kitchen until chemo is over. Red berry juices are out too. So is coffee. On the other hand, tzatziki is a much appreciated food. So, I've been testing recipes and running ideas by Wendy. Most seem to fall short. A not too spicy hamburger stew passes the test but not every night. Trying to come up with a high calorie balanced diet is frustrating.

The other day I cooked up some bacon that was getting a bit long in the tooth. I used some of it in an omlet and the rest I put on a plate for future use. It didn't survive the dinner. Wendy had tzatziki, pita and bacon. Following that thread I made hot potato salad with bacon last night and she had two helpings. Gotta put some meat back on those bones.

Hot Potato Salad with Bacon.

6 strips bacon (about half a 500 gram package and more if you're making a meal out of this)
1 large onion diced (cisler is the proper term.)
5 or 6 medium Yukon Gold or Red Bliss potatoes (about 2 lbs) cut into bite sized pieces.
1/3 cup vinegar. Use a high quality cider vinegar, or a wine vinegar for added flavour.

Put the potatoes on to steam or boil (More nutrients in steamed vegetables)
Cut the bacon into pieces. Saute until they are crisp. Add the onions and cook until they start to turn brown. Add the vinegar and boil to reduce slightly. It's the bacon fat and vinegar that make the vinagrette for the potato salad.

Add the cooked potatoes, lightly salt and pepper them, toss them in the bacon mixture and put into a bowl. Serve hot.

Note: you can steam bite sized bits of carrots with the potatoes to add to the salad, and you can add green or red pepper or diced celery with the onion.

Harvey

Spring Update

A beautiful sunny day - from the chemotherapy room, where I spend the whole afternoon, I had a view of lovely little garden courtyard which was getting some early season gardening attention.

My colleague Regi returned yesterday from the Canadian Museums Association conference in Victoria, bearing greetings and gifts from those I normally see there. Thanks to everyone for their support - and especially to Lawrie for the unbeatable combination of tea and chocolate.

It was also a pleasure to come home yesterday to a cleaned house. Pat and her assistant whipped it into shape in not much more than an hour - with a call in the evening to make sure I was happy with what they had done.

Wendy

Belated Update

My apologies for the delay in a new blog posting since I got out of hospital.

Started a new round of chemotherapy today - this is 4 of 6 planned. Drinking enough fluid (2 litres a day) is still a challenge, but I was thoroughly threatened by one of the more scary chemo nurses today, so I'm busy sipping.

We found someone to come in every two weeks to do some housecleaning for us. Had tried Molly Maid a while back but was not at all happy with them; I have a feeling this may work better. She gets most of her business by word of mouth, has one employee who has been with her for 10 years , and her notes about what we wanted done incuded writing down at the pets' names.

Am back at work - probably 4 half days this week, but will see how it goes. We've refocussed how I'm spending my time from the day to day stuff which needs regular attention to some longer term projects which I can work on more independently.

Thanks for all the good wishes and positive thoughts you've been sending.

Wendy

Tuesday, April 1, 2008, Hawthorne Ave

Wendy is home.

Hurray!!