Day 4: A Room With a View

WBC: 1.4
Platelets: 179
Lbs lost: 6


Today was a pretty good day, overall. Richard felt well enough to sit in a chair for a while. The freeway is in clear view from his window. We really don't need a clock in his room. The traffic patterns are definite indicators of what time of day it is.

I knew Richard was feeling better today when I returned to his room at 2 pm and he was on his knees in bed leaning over the bed rails to change the CD player that sits on a ledge by the wall. I was so afraid he might fall that I just stopped in my tracks like a deer in headlights. (Fair warning here, you do not want me with you in an emergency. I freeze. Or scream. It's not pretty, and I'm pretty much useless.) By the way, see the blue band on his right wrist? That's an indicator that he is a fall risk. (Fans self.) I'm still worked up over that. But I was also pleased to see he was feeling so well! What's a girl to do.

Other evidence of his feeling better was his cruising of the BMT hall. He took five laps this evening. Another patient was taking laps in the hall, and it felt a bit like a transplant version of Nascar. Each person wore a fashionable green gown, clutched tightly to preserve privacy, and they each pushed an awkward portable drip machine. You could tell we were in the US, though. Richard and the woman stayed on their respective right hand side of the hall, looping around counter-clockwise. At one point Richard whispered, "I think I'm gaining on her." Yep. He's feeling better.

Bicep curls, hospital-style.













Checking for progress. Yep. Feeling better.













Things we were thankful for today: new cards to post on Richard's wall; telephone calls from Richard's work colleagues, friends and family; coffee time for Robin and Alissa (thanks Lisa!); and flowers for Robin waiting on our doorstep (thanks Kristen!).






A big thanks, too, to neighbor Bill who helped me haul a huge mattress to the curb at 10 pm for the semi-annual City of Sacramento Crap-on-the-Curb event.