Lovingheart

Marlon has been watching me and noticing how I am.  He feels I am stressed out.  He tells me I need counseling.  And other things.  Living in close quarters, he has greater maturity, and he observes. His throat is quite sore.  That makes it hard to eat and drink.  Anything he eats doesn't taste right.  A bad aftertaste from most foods.  He was saying that eating and enjoyment of food are what is keeping him from getting very depressed.  So he was pretty down.  Wants food but nothing satisfies. And another room change.  This time we were bumped to a semi private room.  The second half is currently empty.  The private room was for another patient coming in that needed to be isolated because of infection.  It seems that every day there is change on the ward.  A few of the rooms have longer term patients, sometimes it can be for several months.  Perspective. So cheeky, my neighbour's dog.  Such a good dog, ...

We received great news today.  His marrow tests came back clear.  His spinal fluid is also clear.  This doesn't mean the cancer is completely gone but it is not putting up a fight and is much weaker and in hiding.  Very exciting.  Because the results are so good, they have taken him off the steroids.  Yay!! Once his blood counts recover they will start immunotherapy. Marlon has a very sore throat which makes drinking and eating painful.  He drinks very little and gets painkillers in order to eat.  He gets a break from the IV in the afternoon but is getting liquid and nutrition the rest of the time.  He walked more today than he has since being admitted.  That was to go see a particular restaurant of course.  It was a disappointing day food wise for him and soon the cravings will dissipate. I am hoping for a smoother ride over the next few weeks until the bone marrow transplant.  They are hoping to move forward with that in six ...

Another not so good night.  Platelets were brought in the night.  Normally he gets them during the day but they ordered them early because he had a procedure scheduled.   Transfusions needed to be done ahead of time.  Then he was awake for a while a bit later with the pain/nausea in his gut.  This is not plain nausea as it includes a lot of pain.  He didn’t throw up but thought he would. He didn’t have to wait long to be brought down for the procedure.  In fact they woke him up.  Last word Marlon said as the anaesthesia was putting him to sleep was ‘falafel’.  Yes, another food craving. Lumbar puncture (LP) where they use a needle to insert chemo drugs into the spinal fluid.  And a bone marrow where they remove some for testing.  Originally it was going to be tested again after 4 weeks of induction treatment but I think they are hoping for positive results to allow treatment to progress.  No matter what they will not decrease t...