March 8, 2000 -- Day -1
It's Wednesday. The doctors said this morning that Dave is doing "remarkably well". Good to hear coming from a doctor. He's been doing radiation twice a day since Monday. So far, he hasn't been too affected by it. I think the full impact will take a few more days to hit.
Once the chemo got out of his body, he started feeling better. Tuesday he felt better than Monday, and today he felt really good. Unfortunately, the afternoon radiation made him feel kind of queasy.
Jon and Donnie (Dave's brothers) arrived yesterday. His cousin Valerie, who lives in New Hampshire but works in Boston, also stopped by to see him. The four of us went out to dinner at a great Italian restaurant. Somehow, tho, things just aren't the same when I do them without Dave.
It seemed like March 3rd would never get here. Then it was here and everything was beginning. Since then, we've mostly just been waiting. Dave has done a lot of sleeping. Today he was up and around. We went for a walk around the unit when we came back from his morning radiation, then he sat in his chair for a while and read the paper, did some puzzles, and read e-mails. Keep those letters coming, folks!
My days consist of getting up and having coffee with whatever housemates happen to be up. Then I get ready and get to the hospital by 10 to accompany Dave to his radiation. After that, I go amuse myself while Dave takes a shower and does all that good stuff. I come back a while later and we hang out. Sometime later I eat lunch, we hang out some more, and then go downstairs for his afternoon radiation at about 4:15.
Tomorrow I'll bring Jon to the hospital for check-in at 5:30 am. Donnie and I will probably hang out while Jon is in surgery. Jon is scheduled to have the surgery at 7:00. Hopefully it will go smoother than Dave's surgery last Friday! Dave's last radiation is at 10:30, so I'll accompany him to that. The transplant will probably happen late afternoon, although the doctors will know better tomorrow morning when they do their rounds.
Tomorrow is Day 0. We begin watching Dave's blood counts, and wait for them to go up. They will probably go down for a day or two after the transplant, since the effects of the radiation will still be happening, and the marrow won't yet have found it's way into Dave's bones. But it shouldn't take too long to see some results. I'll make sure to put updates out here for you, even if they're short ones, so you'll all know where things stand.
I hope you're finding these updates helpful. Part of the reason for doing them is so I can unload my feelings, but more than that, we want all of you to know what's going on, too. We know everyone is dealing with this in their own way, and we hope this helps you feel better about things.
Don't be afraid to ask questions. Having information was important in helping us get used to this, so if it will help you, too, then don't hesitate to ask.
Hope you're all enjoying the spring weather, whatever it may be where you are. I'll talk to you soon.
Allison