When it rains, it pours...

BOX SCORE
Element	Current	Std. Range	Trend
Hemoglobin	6.6	13-17	v
Platelets	11	140-375	-
ANC	0.0	1800-8300	v

Spending as much time in quarantine as we do, Jill and I have had to find ways to keep ourselves entertained. We both do quite a bit of correspondence with friends and relatives by email and text messaging. We like to read books, especially mysteries, to each other, and I have to admit we spend a fair amount of time watching the boob panel (formerly the boob tube, but they don't have tubes anymore). 

One thing we like to watch on TV at Christmastime is our collection of Christmas movies. Among them is a movie called "Remember the Night" from 1940, starring Fred MacMurray as Assitant District Attorney John Sargent, and Barbara Stanwyck as Lee Leander, a sophisticated crook who, in the opening scene of the movie on Christmas Eve, steals a very expensive jeweled bracelet and tries to pawn it at a shop down the street from the jewelry store. The pawnbroker calls the cops, and of course, Sargent ends up as the prosecutor in her case. 

At the arraignment, because Sargent is planning to drive from New York to Indiana that night, he makes sure the trial is set over until after the holidays, which means Lee must go to the lockup for several days. John feels bad about her having to be in jail for the holidays and arranges bail for her. The bail bondsman misunderstands his motives and delivers Lee to John's apartment. She also misunderstands and thinks John is trying to seduce her. When he tells her he just wants to get on the road home for the holidays, she says, "Now what am I supposed to do? At least in jail I would have a warm place to sleep and a hot meal." 

John says the least he can do is to buy her that hot meal. While they are dining at a supper club, the two discover that they are both from Indiana. He goes home every Christmas and she hasn't been home since she was a teen. They end up driving together in John's car. When they stop at Lee's mother's home, Mom doesn't want anything to do with her "no good" daughter, so John takes Lee home to his mother's farm. You see where this is all going, I'm sure. [SPOILER ALERT]  Yep John and Lee fall in love.

But I am getting ahead of myself. They have a lovely Christmas Eve with John's mother, his aunt, and Willy the hired hand, played by Sterling Holloway, the perfect bumpkin. During the evening they all take turns entertaining one another as people did in the days before TV and internet and reliable radio in rural areas. During the evening, Willy offers to sing and Lee agrees to accompany him on the piano. The song they do is "A Perfect Day." (It's worth a listen, because Holloway has a beautiful voice.)

The song was written by Carrie Jacobs-Bond first as a poem, and later she set it to music. It sold over 25 million copies during her lifetime. The song is described as a "parlor song," and by today's standards it is a little sappy, but it was the launch pad for Jacobs-Bond to become the first woman to earn her living as a composer.*

This past week we have had ten medical appointments that have taken us from the two Salem Kaiser clinics to the Cascade Park Kaiser clinic in Vancouver, to OHSU and the Central Interstate Kaiser clinic in north Portland. I have had five transfusions, a bone marrow biopsy, an echocardiogram, a pulmonary (lung) function test, a meeting with the respiratory department, and three blood draws. 

As the week has drawn to a close, the lilting tune and the sappy lyrics of "A Perfect Day" came into my mind. The first line is, "When you come to the end of a perfect day, and you sit alone with your thought." Well, in my case, it was a week not a day, and perfect? That depends on your definition of perfect. Some of the stuff I went through was a little uncomfortable. There was a lot of driving for Jill. But you know what? We got it all done. We were together through it all. And at the end of the "perfect" day, we checked off all but three of the pre-transplant tests and exams that are required. The remaining three are a dental exam and an evaluation with a social worker, both scheduled for next Tuesday, and a consultation with the radiologist at OHSU who will do the full body radiation therapy in preparation for the transplant. That's on Thursday.

I will be hospitalized for about three weeks for the transplant procedure. During that time, Jill is not only allowed but encouraged to be by my side. We have learned that driving in the waterfront area where the Knight Cancer Center (KCC) is located is just a bit intimidating for country folk like us, so we determined that Jill will need quarters near the hospital. Once I am discharged we will need to live near KCC for three months. 

Now, here is the icing on the cake. While we were waiting for my blood draw yesterday, Tina the housing coordinator at OHSU called and informed us that there is a studio apartment with kitchenette available at the Rood Family Pavilion across the street from KCC. We secured a reservation there for our post-transplant stay. Tina also said there is a vacation rental apartment for Jill just two blocks from the hospital where the transplant will be done. No driving 120 miles round trip for this stay. It was like the answer to a prayer, no, it was the answer to a prayer to have these two unknown pieces of our puzzle suddenly fall into place. Tears of joy and gratitude were streaming down Jill's cheeks by the end of that call. 

"But wait," as they say in the "As Seen on TV" commercials, "There's more!" Tina called again this afternoon and told us that, out of curiosity, she called a friend who works at Kaiser to see whether our medical plan covers lodging away from home during the time of the transplant. I had not even considered that possibility, but Tina said our lodging will be reimbursed up to $100 per day. 

There are some caveats to staying at the Rood Family Pavilion. Because it is intended for cancer patients and their families and has limited capacity, if I should have to be admitted to the hospital again for more than 48 hours, Jill would have to move out, and there is no telling whether we could get another unit there, nor whether a unit with a kitchen would be available. Since I will be in strict quarantine while my new immune system rebuilds itself, this is no minor consideration, because we will need to do all of our own cooking. And how do you find lodging that is close to KCC for two or three months on short notice? 

Aha, Tina to the rescue! She told us that she talked to the owner of the vacation rental where Jill will stay during my hospital stay, and he is able to offer us the apartment for the entire time of our Portland excursion at a reduced rate for cancer patients. The rate is low enough that it would all still be covered by our insurance. There is free parking, and the owner lives next door and has made it a priority to help cancer patients as best he can. So, we have a choice to make, but it is the choice between two good options. I think we will choose the vacation rental.

So, in His own inimitable manner, God has been pouring out blessings faster than we can count them. What was seeming like an insurmountable task (finding housing) amid a flood of medical appointments has turned into an embarrassment of riches. We hope to meet the owner of the vacation rental next week, and perhaps, even see the space. If you are a praying person, Praise the Lord with us, for He is good. 

Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. (Malachi 3:10) 

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Perfect_Day_(song)