In The Hospital

Be and I got away later than we planned on Sunday but the trip seemed to take less time than before. So we arrived at Tinker and Betty's at just the right time -- they were home from church and just finishing supper. We were supposed to be at MD Anderson at 8:00 this morning, and Tinker said that traffic would be bad at that time, so we headed back for bed about 9:45. One delay in getting away Sunday was a very nice thing. Our small group that has Bible study together most Sunday evenings came to our house after the morning service and prayed over us. That was a great blessing.

This morning we arose about 6, planning to leave at 6:45. We ate breakfast, and got away at 7:00. But the traffic was not too bad, so by the time we parked in the remote parking and walked (slowly) to the hospital, it was about 8:15, and we were pretty much on schedule. I had my vital signs taken, then they drew several vials of blood, and we rode a cart to another building, arriving at 9:00, the correct time for my next appointment.

This appointment was so they could place a port in my arm in which to give the chemotherapy. The port is on my upper right arm, and the tube runs through my vein to a point near my heart. I had a moment of light-headedness during the insertion and felt quite hot, but it passed quickly. The nurse (male) doing the procedure said it was a bit unusual for a person to experience this, but he did not seem concerned. By the time the procedure was done, I was fine. But then I had to go for an X-ray to make sure that the tube was in the correct place. It was.

Next we went on to another place to have my heart examined so that I could be accepted into the clinical trial. They made Be stay in the waiting area while this happened, and they did not tell us how long it would take. I began to feel sorry for her because I was in there a long time. First I went to get an injection that would "mark" my red blood cells. Then I had to just sit there for 20 minutes. Next they injected some radioactive juice in me, and sent me down the hall to a "men's waiting area." They separated the men from the women because many of the patients were wearing the gowns that are open in the back. I had on my regular clothes. After some time I heard a female voice down the hall call out, "Mrs. Green?" So I yelled out, "That's MISTER Green," and all the men in the room laughed. The girl was very embarrassed.

I was taken to a room, put on a flat bed, and rolled under this cover that was to take pictures of my heart. The first picture took one minute. The second and third pictures took 10 minutes each! Poor Be had no idea what was going on. Finally I came back to where she was waiting at about 1:15 and we headed to eat before our appointment with the Dr. at 2:15. This meant that we rode the cart (actually I rode and Be walked) back to the main building and had lunch in the cafeteria. We did not have to rush and had plenty of time.

But we were taken in to a private room pretty quickly. We answered questions for a nurse, then a PA, and then the doctor came. The latest bone marrow biopsy confirmed the other one. I have 21% "blasts" in my bone marrow, so I officially have AML. I passed the heart test, and the process for starting to admit me began. This was about 3:30. Also I had to sign papers that I understood what terrible things could happen to me.

At the admission area, we learned that a room would not be available until about 8:00 pm. It was about 4:45 at this time. So we decided to go out for one last fling. We tried to go to the Galleria Mall, but three different people could not describe how to get there in a way that worked for me. We ended up at a very nice strip mall, and ate at a mexican food place called Esperito's (I think.) We split an order of fajitas (chicken and beef combination) and it was very good. We arrived back at the admission area about 7:30 and they got us in a room right away. But it is probabaly a temporary room because one was not available in the "isolation" area where I am supposed to be. But they plan to start my chomotherapy tonight anyway. Be stayed here until about 8:30 and she is driving to Tinker's now, by herself for the first time. She was not looking forward to that.

Well, if you made it to here in this story, I'm amazed. It is long. More to come later. Please keep praying for both Be and me.

Let The Adventure Begin

It is Sunday morning and everyone is at church -- except me. It is too dangerous for me to be around that many people, even with a mask. Also I tire out very quickly.

Becky and I will drive to Tinker's house right after church this morning, and then tomorrow I most likely will be admitted to M. D. Anderson hospital in the leukemia ward. My goal is to give daily updates on this blog, but I do not know how tired and sick I will be. So we will see.

I am looking at my upcoming experiences much like as if I were climbing a fourteener. On those climbs, I always started with great anticipation, then quickly grew very weary. During that time I would think, "Why am I doing this?" Then I would reach the time that I would count 20 steps up the slope, then stop and rest for about a minute. This would continue until I had to rest longer. Finally I would be able to be on the summit, and it was glorious. My heart was always filled with praise because of the vista that God had placed before me, and because He gave the the strength, energy, and drive to accomplish the goal.

I am looking forward to being on the summit of this trek. But I confess that I cannot see what I am typing right now because of the tears. Lord, give me faith! Please pray -- for me and for Be.

God is good. Let the adventure begin.

Dying Candle

A person is, apparently, never too old to live and learn. In the first photo below is a candle that burned lower to the bottom than any of our candles had ever done. We were fascinated with it. The wick was not in a metal support but was folded to the side at the bottom. So eventually the entire wick was burning across the bottom of the candle. We decided to just watch the eventual demise of the candle while we ate supper.

As you can see, the candle was on a glass candle holder that kept the wax from running onto the table. Everything was under control. Then the glass exploded. We had glass in our tomatoes, in our french fries, on our onions, and there was a fire burning on our table.


At this time we had a major disagreement: I proceeded to try to blow out the fire and Be was arguing for smothering it. I blew it out before she could stop me. Here is a picture of the spot that now remains on our table. Live and learn.

A Joke

I made up a joke this morning, and then Be helped me refine it and make it better. Here is the final result.

How does a family of lollipop makers show love and concern for each other?



They lick after each other.

Inspiration Strikes

Have you also had those times when you have wrestled with a problem to no avail? A reasonable solution escapes you for a long time and the problem becomes irritatingly passionate with you. Then a moment of inspiration strikes at an odd time. With me, it has happened several times while I was taking a shower.

This week it happened again. We have this new TV and I was having trouble getting the cables hooked up correctly. You see, we have a vcr and a dvd player/recorder that also have to be connected. But Rho and Tuell helped me get everything working so well that we were able to make dvd's of the Discovery Channel's Planet Earth program.

Then I messed everything up. Some of my colleagues at work told me that I could get HD tv on the local channels with a $40 antenna. That way I could watch HD programs without having to pay an extra monthy fee to the dish company. Of course, I could not get the HD signal unless it was on a local channel, but that sounded good to me. So I went to Best Buy with the book that came with our TV, and quizzed a salesman about it. I bought one of the units, and he showed me how to hook it up, even writing the instructions in my book.

Nothing works like it is supposed to, does it? When I got home, the place where I was supposed to attach the cable from the antenna already had a cable attached to it. So I disconnected that cable and attached the antenna. The HD picture on CBS came in BEAUTIFULLY! Also on ABC and NBC. FOX did not do so well, but I had already been told that would be the case. But if I wanted to watch the TV using the dish, I had to disconnect the antenna cable and rehook the cable that was previously there. Aaargh! It worked, but it was a pain.

Several days later I took a shower late at night and the solution hit me. I wondered why it had taken me so long to figure out such a reasonable solution. The next morning I hooked the antenna to the place I was told, and took the other cable completely off. Now when I want to watch the TV using the dish, I use the dvd port. Everything works fine. You see, we ran the dish through the dvd so that we could record the unscrambled signal before it reached the TV. If I switch to the TV port, I get the antenna signal, which does not go through the dvd recorder. My recorder cannot record HD signals anyway, so no harm done. Life is good.

The reason I had the extra cable, it turns out, was so that I could watch the dish signal without going through the dvd recorder. The cable effectively by-passed the dvd recorder. All clear? Well, that's the news from Abilene where all the TV signals are clear, all the radios are loud, and all the college students are lazy bums.
(That, of course, is a joke.)

Look At That Smile

Taylor celebrated Rho's birthday by going to the orthodontist and having braces glued to her teeth. For quite some time she has thought that having braces would be a cool thing. Now she has them, and it is painful. She is not yet able to play her flute because it makes her lip press against her braces and causes her teeth to hurt. But she has progressed to the point that she can blow a note or two.

Some of the other consequences about having braces on her teeth are that Be is having to be very creative in what she fixes for Taylor to eat. Also we have a boat load of cleaning tools and cleansing agents taking space in the bathroom. Finally, we have to dig very deep in our pockets to pay for this torture. Is it worth it? Yes.

But in this modern age, one gets to choose colors for the rubber bands that pull on the teeth. See if you can identify the two colors that Taylor chose.

What Can You Get For a Buck Fifty?

If you shop the day after Thanksgiving you can get a nice shirt like I am wearing in the photo below. Actually, Tuell did the going and shopping. He got two such shirts for $1.50 each, and gave one of them to me. Is that not nice? There is a scanned ticket above verifying that the shirts were originally $20.00. It also shows that they are "croft and barrow" shirts. I haven't bought a shirt from a store in so long that I do not know if that is a good or bad brand!