Day 7 of 10 - September 13, 2010

When I looked at the date I realized that today would have been my dad's 102nd birthday. But on to other things.

D was Pete's nurse again and got a blood return on the first try. Hooray! A, Dr R's PA, spoke to us briefly and a short time later Dr R came in. He said that the chemo was the easy part and asked if we had heard anything from Hope Lodge because after Pete's done with the 10 days of chemo comes the hard part. That's when the white blood cell count plummets and fevers and other dangerous side effects occur. Pete will have to have blood work done every other day to monitor the counts and watch for any problems that might start to show up before they become life-threatening. He wants us near the hospital in case something happens.

The knee pain is pretty much gone and when Dr R palpated the area he said that the tumor was perceptibly smaller. The discomfort that had radiated from Pete's shoulder blade around to his chest has resolved, leaving only the pain near the scapula, but unfortunately it's still pretty intense at times. Tomorrow Pete has an appointment with O to see if she can use acupuncture to try to alleviate some of that pain.

After the doctor left I mentioned to Pete that maybe he should put a call in to the social worker to see if he could find out where we stand with respect to getting into Hope Lodge. Within minutes of our conversation, B, the social worker, walked in and asked if we'd heard from them. When we said we had not, he said he'd look into it and get back to us. Since Pete hadn't had time to call him I'm guessing that Dr R had probably had A or D put in a call to him.

Before we left the hotel Pete had an Ensure, but once he was settled in with the iv I asked if he'd like anything to eat. Since his answer was affirmative I walked over to Chelsea Market and got a couple of bagels, cream cheese and large herbal teas for us.

Pete's drip finished up a bit earlier than usual, probably because they didn't have to mess around trying to draw blood the way they had done most of the other mornings. He was just about the same weight as yesterday, so D told him they'd send him home without the big iv bag of fluid and see how it goes.

We were out of the hospital and on the road before 1, and at this point, we still haven't heard anything from either B or HL. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there will be a room available for us soon, especially after hearing what Dr R said this morning about what needs to be done post-chemo.