T+78 P&V

BOX SCORE	7/22/2024
Element	Current	Std. Range	Trend
Hemoglobin	12.4	13-17	^
Platelets	166	140-375	^
ANC	4620	1800-8300	^

Today is my grandma's birthday. She is not here to celebrate, because she was born 133 years ago, in 1891. Grandma Brooks was a pistol. She was a very animated lady full of fun and laughter. She loved a prank, and she loved her family. Even after she had a stroke and came to live with our family, she was still full of "p*ss and vinegar," or P&V, as she liked to say of anyone who was a bit irreverent and full of joie de vivre. I can still see her sitting in the easy chair in her room, watching what was then called "professional wrestling." She would pound her cane on the floor and cuss out "Tough" Tony Borne, who was her favorite wrestler to hate.

She was 76 when she passed away while I was in college. I just turned 78 last week. It seems incredible to think that I am older than that feisty old lady was. It also seems strange to think that I have a link with the nineteenth century, through Grandma Brooks. She lived to see not only the Wright brothers successful flight of the first powered aircraft, but had she lived to be my age, just two years longer, she would have seen men walking on the moon. 

Time certainly goes by, which is all the more reason to savor every day that the Lord gives us to enjoy His creation and time with family and friends. Today is day 78 since my bone marrow transplant. I can't believe how the time has gone by. And check out the Box Score above. I haven't seen 12.4 hemoglobin for a while. I'm beginning to imagine hemoglobin in the "standard range" of 13 to 17. I can hardly remember what it was like not to be anemic. That was more than two years ago. I'll probably feel like Superman! 

Jill and I have been noodling through the things that need to be done before we return home. We'll need to be sure and not overstock our pantry and refrigerator here. Jill loves to have backups of staples, so she will need to reign that in a bit. Probably should titrate our supply of ice cream so that we finish it off the day before we leave. We already called the house cleaning service and arranged for them to clean the house in Dallas, including washing the windows inside and out before we return. We'll need to discontinue our laundry service here. Jill sent an email to the Bubble Factory, telling them when we will no longer need their services, but we haven't had a reply yet. It might be necessary to call them and make sure they got the message. We have informed the landlord of our expected departure date, so he can prorate the rent. We need to find some way of rewarding our upstairs neighbors, who have been so patient and gracious about bringing us mail and packages of things we purchase online that more often than not are delivered to their door. 

I am accustomed to just packing my bag and bidding the staff farewell, when I leave a hospital stay. This will be a little bigger project. If you are a follower of this blog, you will, perhaps, remember the whirlwind of activities we had during the two weeks before I was admitted to OHSU hospital. I never dreamed that going home would entail almost as much activity. I have three more Monday visits for blood draws and dressing changes, and then I have visits scheduled on the last two Fridays of our stay. On August 9th, I will have another bone marrow biopsy, and on the 16th, I will have a pulmonary (lung) function test and a final meeting with Dr. Meyers, who will give us instructions to help with the transition back to being cared for by the Kaiser oncology team. 

Dr. Meyers hinted at my last clinic visit that I might have my PICC line removed  before we go, or shortly after we get home, and that blood draws will become less frequent, on the order of once every two weeks. Wow! It's been a long time, but then again it seems to be flying by. Best of all, I am feeling great, and full of P&V. 

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— ¹⁴ yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. ¹⁵ Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” (James 4:13-15, emphasis added)