Today looks like it will be another pretty good day!
Maintenance adjusted the temperature so the room last night was not so stifling hot! The filtration system here is I believe is what they call a negative air flow? The air is EXTREMELY dry! My challenge today is to keep Bill hydrated. His doctor confirmed today what I have been telling him that he needs to drink more! He told his nurse that he needed a case of beer!!!! Pretty funny coming from a man who doesn't drink!
His numbers although still going down are still pretty good! It takes until day 10 or 11 for these new stem cells to get where they needed to go and do their thing! So the longer his numbers are still in the good range the shorter the time he will feel crappy and need transfusions!
This game show routine I fear will drive me crazy!!!! I found though while they are on it gives me time to get some work done!
I will check back in this afternoon...............
7:00 pm
Bill had another number of laps around the halls followed by a nap. During his nap I decided to talk a walk outside and headed toward Holy Cathedral Church. Sitting there reflecting I couldn't take my mind off of this wing we are on in the hospital. It has a total of 18 rooms. 18 completely occupied rooms. Everyone here is either getting a transplant or chemo for some type of blood cancer. Every once in awhile someone leaves and immediately the room is thoroughly cleaned, disinfected and a new patient is moved in. Every one's treatment is different because I am learning how many different types of blood cancers there are and how each person responds differently to the treatments. What has hit Bill and me so hard is the many young patients here. Today we met Amy, a beautiful young woman in her 20's as we were walking. Her transplant is scheduled for next week. She reminded us so much of our neighbor Kelly who lost her battle with Leukemia not very long ago. Kelly was also a beautiful young woman both inside and out and was the first to welcome us to the neighborhood. We also were blessed today to witness a young man in his 30's going home after his transplant. What a joy that was to see the excitement on his and his wife's faces as they were leaving the wing. It is difficult not to question the whys of this disease. Earlier in the week when we were speaking with Chaplin Jeanie and discussing some of this she shared with us a quote, " Leave the unknown to the known God". As Bill is anticipating his body to start feeling the side effects of the very potent chemo he received and his fear of the unknown we try and remember to leave this in God's hands.
Well, I sit here once again crying and reading. Your words are very profound, but sometimes hard to do. I think that as humans we always think we should have all the answers. I've come to the conclusion that some questions are not meant to be answered. So many things in life are not fair. It's not fair that you and Uncle Dimmy are spending the next month in the hospital and that he is going to be very sick. The only thing I can hope is that there is some reason for all of this. Maybe some connection you make in the next month while Uncle Dimmy is being healed. That you will leave that hospital with Uncle Dimmy in remission and some amazing thing will come from this. I do believe there is always hope and with every door closed a window opens. Sometimes it is harder but less frustrating to trust that God has a plan and he will take care of you. He will carry you at your most difficult moments and there will be only one set of footprints in the sand. Love you<3
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