Day Four

The plan worked pretty well. By exercising right before the chemo, and taking two pain pills soon after, I slept much better last night. And today I felt better, although I did have to request one pain pill this afternoon. It worked. One of the nurses encouraged me to walk outside of the cluster of rooms in my ward, so we walked far enough that as we were returning we went back through the doors that say "Only leukemia patients and their visitors permitted." The nurse wanted me to walk to help me keep from retaining fluids.

This was a very encouraging day. When the doctor and his henchpersons came in to see me this morning he said, "I don't know why I even come in here. You are doing great. If all my patients were like you I could go drink coffee all morning!" That gave me the courage to pull off my joke about the little green men at the foot of my bed. When all of them started looking at the foot of my bed to see the little green men, I knew I could not keep them in suspense so I quickly said, "That was a joke." And they all laughed. One of them, who has seen us several times and sounds like he has a German accent, felt free to smilingly comment that Mrs. Green was wearing green today.

Be had to spend about two hours attending a class to learn how to take care of my infusion port when I get out of the hospital. She has to go to another one before we leave, and then prove that she can do it successfully. She is still like she was in college. She used to think that she was going to FAIL many exams that she prepared for, and then she would usually make an A.

I plan to use the same strategy tonight that worked last night, and I hope to feel good when Tuell and Sharla and their three girls come to see me tomorrow. Of course, I will not get to be face-to-face with the girls, but we are devising strategies for my being able to talk to them on the phone while they can see me in my hospital window.

I just reflected for a moment to decide how to close this post. I cannot come up with anything better -- God is good!