WISCONSIN CHEESE to start this day

WBC: 3.69 Platelets: 75,8000 Weight: 63.0 kg Monday, Aug. 22, was another busy day, but not quite as intense as yesterday

Rod had a scrambled egg with a little WISCONSIN Mozzarella CHEESE, oatmeal, raisins and OJ for breakfast today. Eggs are working out as he can taste them and they taste like eggs! Yay!Rod’s appetite is continuing to improve daily, and he hasn’t needed to take a nausea pill for the last 2 days.

About 9:30 am we left for the hospital. While waiting for Rod to be infused with his fluids via IV, the three of us took a walk down memory lane talking about Grandma Essie Clark’s house and various childhood activities. It was fun to hear about our different perspectives on the same events. We were giggling and laughing very hard, so we had to close the door to our room so as not to disturb the other staff/patients.

One of the memories was of “snipe hunts” that were popular back in the day. Rod said that Cousins Larry H. and Jack R. initiated Cousins Mary R., Russ H., and Rod into the fine tradition.But then he also told me that the three of them researched “snipe” in Grandma’s library to find out more about this highly “dangerous” animal. He also said Grandma provided the books for the research, but did not reveal the scam directly. That cracked us up.

At noon, Sue and Joanie went to get lunch for Rod and us as he was still hooked up to the IV. We brought him another huge baked potato, Dr. Pepper, and potato chips. His nurse Lydia said that more salt in his diet would help raise his low blood pressure and Dr. Pepper has phosphorous, too, which Rod also needs. Interesting, hey… a nurse recommending soda and chips to a patient?!

After a visit with Dr. Shelton and Nurse Practitioner Lydia, the three of us trooped down to first floor and Rod had an echocardiogram. This was to assess for any damage around the heart (possibly caused by the chemo). More about this later. Then we got to leave for the day at about 2:00pm.

At the apartment, Sue and Rod took naps while Joan did computer work and made a nutritious supper of a boxed New Orleans bean and rice dish, creamed corn, saltine crackers, cottage cheese and peaches. For dessert, we had Becky’s homemade & delicious cowboy cookies (based on Mom-aka. Gina Clark’s-recipe) and Robin Aycock’s outstandingly scrumptious pound cake.

After cleaning up dishes and the kitchen and doing some laundry, we got caught up on Eva’s and Gena’s blogs. Nick has a blog, too, and we will get to his tomorrow.

Everything is going pretty well. The only negative was that Rod was having occasional brief dizzy episodes, Fri-Sun. Because of a dizzy spell, he had a slight fall at 5:00 am Sunday morning just as he entered the bathroom. He is okay and was not seriously hurt. He broke his fall by hitting his chest on the bathroom sink and he got a little cut on his upper lip. Joan was up at the time, in the kitchen, and Sue was sleeping, but we both heard him fall and rushed to him, got him up, cleaned up his lip. He said he thought the dizzy spells, and thus the fall, was the result of getting up too fast from his bed. His blood pressure has been running low and he needs more hydration to help raise his blood pressure.

We then decided that one of us would sleep in the second bed in his room to be with him when he needed to get up again. Sue told him to sit up and wait a good two minutes and then stand slowly to let the blood get back to his head. So he took that advice to heart and there have been no more falls or any significant dizzy spells.

We discussed all of this with the Dr. Shelton on Sunday and she agreed that he probably was rising too fast, but just to be on the safe side, she ordered an EKG, CT chest X-ray, and a CT scan of his head to make sure there was no internal bleeding and all the tests came back just fine. The echocardiogram today was also to rule out any problems that might cause dizziness. We will get the echo, and also some culture results, tomorrow. Rod is also drinking the majority of his water and other liquids before 7 pm so he does not need to get up as often in the night.

Ever since we arrived on Aug 19, the three of us are having a great time together and sharing lots of laughs and memories. Our sibling-comraderie is wonderful! If Becky were here, it would be perfect. J

The division of labor between Sue and Joan is working out well. Sue’s most important roles are recording and dispensing Rod’s medicines, keeping records and asking questions of the doctors/nurses. She is very thorough and detailed. She also is our hygiene manager, and develops our safety practices for keeping germs away from Rod. Her secondary jobs, include phone communications with the “kids”/Debbie/ hospital, and doing the laundry which is a big job as Rod has to have clean sheets and clean clothes every single day.

Joan’s major job is driving to and from the hospital and any other transportation needs. Joan also cleans and prepares meals.

And, we are taking turns sleeping in Rod’s room to be available if he needs us during the night.

Well, sorry not to be posting any photos tonight, but at least this is a nice, long blog entry.

~ Rod’s Recovery Coordinators~