Nice to See You

One of the blessings of this journey has been the way people have reached out to contact and see Kevin (us, because I'm like his shadow these days).  Thank you! I've received cards from people I worked with 20 years ago; how fun to hear from them! And we've been able to visit with people we don't get to see nearly enough.

More than one person has said, "Isn't it a shame it takes circumstances like this for us to get together?" Yes.  Yes it is. But at least we are doing it now!

So if you've thought, "We should get together."  Give us a call.  I know, some of you worry that Kevin may not be feeling well or he's tired from treatments.  He truly enjoys talking and sharing memories.  If he isn't feeling up to it, we'll let you know.  But please don't let it stop you from calling.

We've developed a bit of a routine with treatments now.  After treatments on Monday we see the radiation doctor. Each Wednesday includes labs (3:00), a meeting with the oncologist (4:00), and then the radiation treatment (5:00).

I'm not sure why, but I look forward to Wednesdays.  I guess I think I'm going to learn something. And yes, I'll admit, there is more puzzle time.  However, what I have learned is that these days are rather anticlimactic, which can be a good thing since nothing much has changed.

Unlike last week, this time the labs were actually ordered (no menu jokes this time) and Kevin had his blood drawn and was in to see the doctor by 3:15. They were ahead of schedule!  When does that ever happen?

Last week we saw a different oncologist who was quite jovial and shared Kevin's lab results. Please don't take this statement as racist. We really had no idea how to pronounce his name, Ojelabi, so Kevin used another car analogy and dubbed him Old jalopy.  He certainly isn't old...much younger than we are...but Kevin's nickname helped us remember him.  Dr. Ojelabi even challenged Kevin to an arm wrestle during his evaluation--the doctor's right (dominant) arm vs. Kevin's left (weak) arm. The doctor won, but cheated.  He took both hands to push Kevin's arm down.  It gave us a good laugh.

Today's doctor was much more down to business.  He asked the usual questions and said the labs looked good.  I had to pry a few specific numbers out of him since I wanted to compare with what Dr. Ojelabi had told us last week.

	This Week	Last Week	Normal
White blood cells	5.97	7.2	above 1.5
Hemoglobin	15.9	16	13.6 to 16.7
Platelets	134,000	143,000	above 100,000

What's kind of silly is that I don't really have any clue what these mean.  The "white" number shared with us is the "ANC" or absolute neutrophil count. According to Medicinenet.com "Neutrophils are key components in the system of defense against infection. An absence or scarcity of neutrophils
makes a person vulnerable to infection." Now I know.  Enough education for one night.

I know I've said this many times, but the people on 1st floor are wonderful!  Because the previous two appointments were so speedy, we were done before 4:00 but our radiation treatment wasn't until 5:00.  Kevin asked, "Can we check in early?"

"Sure.  No problem. They'll squeeze you in when they can."  And they did.  Their 4:00 spot must be open temporarily so we were done shortly after 4:00.  Check out Kevin's impression of a golf ball on this picture.  Sometimes the mask is pretty tight and he comes out with what I think look like dimples on a golf ball.

That gave us a few minutes to stop and see Kevin's brother before heading over to the Waterfront to meet my brother and his wife.  Leave it to my brother to find the deals.  Did you know the Waterfront has $5 burgers during happy hour on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday?  We had no idea...but we do now.  And they were good burgers.  The evening reminded us how nice it is to sit and visit with people we care about.

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

1 Thessalonians 5:11