Straight from the Hospital

Hello, everyone!

I am typing this from a chair next to Kristina's bed. She's watching Stephen King's The Stand and showing me pictures from a sailing and camping trip.



She's not feeling great today, mostly because her throat hurts and she's quite hoarse. She gargles often and has a morphine drip with a button for the pain. Her team of doctors -- only three today but sometimes six or seven -- just came in for a checkup, and all seems well except for some dry, itchy skin and possibly a small fever. They told her she's doing well and went on their way.



Her white blood cell count is up slightly today, to 0.15 after being 0.13 yesterday and 0 the day before. ANC (immunity) is still zero, and HCT is still 30. Platelets, after a transfusion drove them as high as 85 on the 20th, are back down to 21 now. She also reminded me that I am supposed to put all these in chart form, so I'll get back on that.



Across the way, Husky Stadium is filling up for the annual Apple Cup football game (Washington vs. Washington State), so she'll be able to see a throng of people out her doorway and across the hall.



She's not walking as many laps as before, because she gets a little motion sickness -- which we both laughed at, as we are both veterans of Alaskan fishing, and she's been through 30-foot seas and not gotten seasick, but now she feels it walking around a flat floor. So she's working on yoga in her bed to at least stay flexible and comfortable.



I asked her if she wanted to say anything in particular, and she said, "Thank you everybody for all that is being done and will be done and all the contributions and people offering to help with my apartment and that I have a truly amazing group of friends and acquaintences who are bending over backward to help me out, and there are not enough words to show my gratitude."



We still need caregiving volunteers for weekend shifts, so please contact Kristin (polarbare49@hotmail.com) to ask about that; soon we will have the calendar posted online so you can see where we need people.