Cancer hijacked our day

Today did not go according to schedule, and as many of you know, I am one of the ten least spontaneous people on the planet.  I love a good schedule and I hate adventures.  Well, today has been an adventure.

Eric and I left the house today at 10:00 a.m. and headed to the cancer clinic where they drew his blood, gave him a brief checkup, and then put him in the chair for his scheduled chemotherapy on day one of his second round of less aggressive treatment.  They never started the chemo, and people kept coming to ask us questions.

Eventually we found out that Eric's red blood cell count was very low, his platelet transfusion on Tuesday had actually made his platelet count worse (they explained why this happens on a fairly frequent basis), and his white blood cell count was soaring.  They weren't sure what to do with Eric, and as the physician's assistant said, "We haven't ever seen this happen after just one round of low dose chemo."  Once again, I knew Eric was an original, but does that have to extend into every aspect of our lives?

Our physician, the PA, and the bone marrow transplant team at LDS had a consultation and decided to not give the chemo, but instead admit Eric to LDS hospital where they could give him three units of blood right away.  They are checking his white blood cells under a microscope to see if they can find out whether they are the "good" or the "bad" type of cells.  Once they have agreed upon the type of cells they are, Eric will either start tomorrow on the less aggressive chemo at the clinic, or else he will have to stay in the hospital and start the more aggressive chemo even though he doesn't have a donor yet.

So after sitting at the clinic for two hours, we drove to LDS hospital.  We had to wait for them to type Eric's blood so that they could make up three bags of blood for him.  They started the first bag at 3:00 p.m.  It takes two hours for each bag, so it will be a very long day for us before we finish up and can come home.

I finished the only book I had taken with me at 5:00 (silly me, I thought I would be back home by 1:30 or 2:00 when I packed my bag this morning to go to the clinic) and was ready to go insane.  A friend of Eric's was coming to visit him between 6:00 and 7:00, so I took the chance and raced home to grab a few essentials to take back to the hospital.

The first thing I grabbed was a container in the fridge labelled "Super Foods Salad" that a friend had brought by last night.  I inhaled the entire salad even thought I am sure it was supposed to be enough for both of us.  I don't think you can overdose on salad, and it was awesome!  Next I grabbed a sweater because I freeze in hospitals.  And then I grabbed TWO books so that I don't run out of reading material again.  (I also picked up a few things for Eric, so don't worry that I am neglecting him.)

I took the time to type this just to get it all off my chest, and now I am heading back to the hospital.  Even though it has been a long day and we are not sure what tomorrow will bring, it has been a good day.  After just half of the first bag of blood Eric started looking better.  His color is better and he is more lively.  He really needed this blood so it was worth checking him into the hospital so he could get it today instead of having to wait until tomorrow.  And because he was feeling better he ate a lot of his meal at the hospital.  I was really surprised at how much he ate.  Maybe he was just craving hospital food!