Day -1: A Day of Rest

Today's Dad Stats:
Most recent temperature: 97.6
Most recent blood pressure: 101/50
White blood cell count: 9.62

We are happy to report that last night went much better than the previous night! Dad remained on the dopamine drip overnight, but he must have adjusted to it because he did not have to get up quite so often. Also, this morning he awoke without any nausea! Just to be on the safe side he got some anti-nausea medicine before breakfast, and he was able to eat oatmeal, most of a Carnation breakfast shake, peach yogurt, and a hard-boiled egg! One of the nurses told me that for some reason patients undergoing chemotherapy can't stand the taste of most kinds of meat or eggs, but they are are able to eat hard-boiled eggs without any problem.

Dad hanging out with Randy

After breakfast we walked around the hallway loop 5 or so times, and then Dad took a much-needed nap. We continued the "eat a little, walk a little, nap a little" routine for most of the day. I can always tell when Dad is feeling bad because he develops a certain facial expression that I would describe as a "deep frown," especially when he is sleeping. I could tell Dad felt much better today because the frown was gone, and he even cracked a couple of jokes.

Later in the afternoon we had a very pleasant surprise--Randy, an old friend of Dad's, came to visit! We had a good chat with him; I could tell that the visit made Dad's day.

Dr. Salzman came by after Randy left and told Dad that he's doing great. He made a very strong showing through all of the chemo drugs! Of course his white blood cell count is slowly starting to drop off, and he will probably gradually feel worse as that occurs.

Tomorrow is the big day--TRANSPLANT DAY! As many of you know, that is when Dad will be given back the stem cells that they collected from him in June. To be clear, Dad's white blood cell count will continue to drop after receiving the stem cell transplant, because the stem cells need a few days to seed his bone marrow and produce new white blood cells. However, his white cell count should start to rise again within ten days or so. During the time Dad's white blood cells are low he will be "neutropenic" and very susceptible to infection. Thus everything in his room, including Dad, and everything/one entering his room must be very, very clean.

Gifts from cancer survivor volunteers, including
a notebook, snacks, and a scarf!

Dad managed to eat a little bit more for dinner. His nausea seems to be dissipating, or at least under good control now. After dinner we had another surprise visit from a group of cancer survivor volunteers, who gave us the treats pictured in the photo. They take good care of us here!

So Dad has been trying to catch up on sleep all day, and he went to bed early tonight. He was out cold in just a few seconds, so no entertainment section for today's blog! Here's hoping that Dad gets a good night's sleep and wakes up well-rested for the transplant tomorrow!