A New Day

Jeff had a much better day today.  His pain is managed and the #%!* PICC line is no longer a problem.  He asked me to bring Kerry's trimmer to shave off the rest of his hair.  Yesterday he would not have been able to sit long enough for me to do that.  He rested after his head was shaved, then we got a shower chair and he took his first shower in five days.  It exhausted him but at least he was fresh as a daisy!  Later in the morning he got up to go to the bathroom (I could see he was much steadier on his feet) and he asked if I wanted to "go for a spin."  I was floored!  While I was getting him ready for a walk - unplugging his IV and getting his slippers - Mike, the oncology PT, walked in.  He was glad to see Jeff up and about.  Mike accompanied Jeff on his walk and I took a few minutes for a little stroll by myself.  I must say that I had a spring in my step today!  Jeff's blood counts are going up and we should continue to see improvement.   He still had Typhlitis pain but it was manageable, with the proper drugs.  A visit with Kim in the afternoon was the icing on the cake!

Drugs.  Yes, well, there are side effects.  Jeff was looking for the proper word to describe his dreams.  I suggested “hallucinations.”  He wasn’t sure that was the right term but he said they are definitely weird.  For example, he dreamed that he saw about 10 people wearing tissue paper dresses, blue with white trim, waving in the breeze. (Gee, that sounds a little bit like a hospital gown to me.  Or maybe the blue plastic gowns we had to wear when he was being tested for C. Diff.)  Anyway, he said he saw these dresses and thought that he “wouldn’t be caught dead wearing one of those…  Am I dead?”

Kim and I enjoyed popsicles from Jeff’s stash in the nurses’ freezer.  They are the fun ones with riddles on the sticks:  Who sleeps with his shoes on?  and What do you if your fish can’t sing?  (a horse; tuna fish)