A Return to our Richmond Routine (+ Schedule Change)

Monday - July 16, 2012

The last week seems like a month - or maybe 6 weeks!  Ten days since our last trip to Richmond and its unexpected day of platelet and red blood cell infusions.  Today we are hoping for GOOD BLOOD work!  If my levels are strong, then chemo cycle #4 will officially begin with a Rituxan infusion and intrathecal chemo and I will be cleared for a Tuesday morning hospital admission.  I am eager to stay on schedule and on track.

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Dalton's decor.  I see it in my dreams.

Jilted!  Stood up!  The best analogy I can come up with for today's unexpected schedule change is drawn from a dating scenario....  After getting my blood work done and reported at a record pace, Kevin (oncology clinic nurse practitioner extraordinaire!) told us that chemo round #4 is going to be pushed back one week.  Bummer!  The delay is due in part to my still-rising (but still low) platelet level as well as the need for me to recover from my E.coli infection.  As Kevin reminded us, this entire treatment protocol was penciled rather than inked in because it is a rigorous regimen that takes its physical toll.  Non-chemo hospital stays can shift the schedule.  And of course, I am still on IV antibiotics through Friday.  Sigh....

The biggest negative of this delay is that Megan is arriving in D.C. from China on the 26th and I will now be in the hospital for the first 1 or 2 nights of her brief Williamsburg visit (that realization kicked me in the gut).  The biggest positive of this delay is that now I can enjoy a "good week" at home.  Last week was supposed to be my "good week" and I missed it in the hospital!  What a shame!  Now Joe and I can have a quiet week together with the hounds before his long summer break comes to an end next Monday.  We can SLEEP IN, I can reduce this nagging sleep deficit, and I can recoup my strength before returning for another (welcome) chemo assault.  Hmmm....  maybe being jilted isn't such a bad thing after all!