38 to 44 in Two Days Flat

Our vocabulary continues to expand.  I actually knew the crossword puzzle clue for a 5-letter word meaning “lowest point.”  Nadir.  Jeff is fully in his nadir and has received 7 pints of red blood cells and 5 units of platelets (If you have ever donated blood, thank you!).  Typhlitis, a word I wish we didn’t know, is the gut infection caused by the loss of good bacteria along with the bad bacteria in the intestine and colon.  http://www.uptodate.com/contents/typhlitis-neutropenic-enterocolitis 

Jeff’s waist, normally 38”, is 44” and hurts like mad.  He has not been able to eat more than the occasional popsicle, baked potato or toast in over a week.  His nurse and I finally persuaded him to take pain medication.  He was afraid it would make him nauseous and couldn’t bear the thought of vomiting with his gut so sore.  He chose his drug carefully and has been taking it fairly regularly over the last two days.  Fever makes him pretty miserable.  I have seen the first evidence of discouragement and the first of his tears.  Really. He confessed that these were his first tears!  Incredible!

The biopsy results are in.  The chemo worked but not as thoroughly as Dr. Kennedy would have liked.  Instead of “empty marrow,” he still has 10% of his marrow cells.  Of that 10%, 31% are blasts.  Dr. Kennedy will consult with Dr. Porter to decide what should be done.  Another course of this chemo would be toxic to his gut and would extend his hospital stay quite a bit.  We should know more tomorrow.

One night, Jeff went to the bathroom, then fumbled-tumbled back into bed and realized he’d forgotten to flush his toxic waste.  He called the nurse – she had to measure his urine anyway – and was embarrassed and apologetic about forgetting to flush.  She said, “Honey, poop is poop.”  Another nurse told him, “Poop in the toilet is good.”  Now you might be thinking to yourself that I might have refrained from sharing this story but it was Jeff’s single contribution to this blog entry.  I had to include it.

For those of you who are hair-watchers, the time has come.  It’s lettin’ loose.