Before the War

Richard's been admitted back into the hospital. Hoping he'll be home for Christmas. Until he updates on here again, feel free to keep up on his whereabouts and wellness HERE .

Good news - Sonja and I (Mostly Sonja) removed and installed the new toilet in the main bathroom on Saturday.  The old one was original with the house (circa 1970), and that made it pretty hard to get out.  The nuts were rusted down to balls, so we had to lift the whole thing out instead of the tank and bowl. The old one was leaking.  We thought it was just condensation, but then it became worse.  I was hoping for just a wax seal replacement, but given the state of the toilet, and the amount of work and parts needed to put the old one back, we bit the bullet and got a new toilet, and some more debt on the Home Depot card.  They had a HST off sale, and we get a $50 rebate from the city, so it will work out to under $100 once the smoke clears.  The wax ring was shot, as expected, but the flange plate was good except for a loose screw which was filled, glued, and replaced with an oversize one.  Water damage was minor, and confined to the overlay subfloor. Long and short, a huge worry

Today was a 10am appointment.  Got out early for the about 2 hour commute, and arrived on time.  They still wanted to do fluids today, so I was already into a 2 hour appointment. The platelets are down again, to 64.  Quite a drop, and due most likely to one of the drugs I am taking to prevent a type of pneumonia that I can get from the ciclosporin.  I only take that drug on Monday and Thursday, which are both days where my platelets were low. So, now the solution is to get an IV alternative (2 hour drip) once ever two weeks.  They started today, so my appointment became an extra 3 hours longer.  There were a whack of side effects I could get, but other then a bit of nausea it was ok.   Ugg..  Didn't get out until about 4pm, smack dab in rush hour.  Long slog home, and just bagged out on the couch now to write the update. It's been a long day.  I have until Monday to recuperate to do it again.

So, the appointment was for 10am today.  I was up just before 6.  Rather, I got out of bed just before 6.  I have to take a pill at around 3am, and after that I pretty much don't sleep.  I just lay there as my mind spins around the seemingly endless supply of stuff to worry about other then cancer. I usually get out my MP3 player at some point, listen to some audio books, and that has helped settle my mind and at least get some half asleep time.  I think I have listened to the same chapter like 3 times now. I made it to the lodge in the morning after 9, checked back in, unloaded my stuff into the room, parked the truck, and walked over to the LBMT. The Creatinine levels were down today, but my blood sugar levels are up.  They say it is due to the still relatively high dose of Prednisone blocking the natural insulin.  So, now I am monitoring my blood sugar, and taking long duration insulin to follow the Prednisone levels.  My platelets were lower today - down to 84 - proba

So, this week I had a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday appointment.  After the Wednesday appointment, everything was looking good for being able to cancel the Sunday appointment, and come home for the weekend. The plan was to come home for the weekend, and drive back for Monday for my appointment.  Nothing ever quite goes as planned though :) They hooked me up on Friday, and did my bloodwork.  The results came back, and my Creatinine levels were high again - on a steady increase over the week.  They hooked me up with a second back of fluids, and it looked like they wanted me back for at least Sunday.  After a lot of bargaining about drinking even more water, and the head Dr. wanting me back for both Saturday and Sunday, we worked out a deal where if I learned how to flush my own lines, and hook up my own IV bag, they would let me go home with two bags of fluids for the weekend. I think my nurse Nancy had a big hand in that, so I was very thankful for her efforts that day.  I have