Day Ten, Back in Lexington

David came home from MGH five hours ago. The oncologists wanted him to stay in the hospital, since his white blood counts are extremely low: they fully expect him to have an infection and they’d prefer he was in the hospital with immediate access to antibiotics. However, David was insistent, and I promised to bring him back to the hospital at the first sign of fever. Once outside, he walked briskly to the car, which was wonderful to see. His nausea has abated and he’s able to eat food!

           This morning, before he left Lunder 10, he had two transfusions: red blood cells and platelets. He will return to Cox 1, the outpatient clinic, on Friday and again on Monday, to monitor his blood counts, and possibly have more transfusions.

            In negotiating for his release, we learned from the oncologist that although clean habits at home are good, the greatest risk of infection is from the normal bacteria that live in his gut. Not much we can do about that, except frequent hand-washing.

            For my part, I thoroughly cleaned the house. It may not matter much, but it is the one thing I have control of. Annie told me of a very difficult time on her Taiwan mission. Everything was hard. So, she stood by her air conditioning thermostat and switched it on and off. On and off. She could control that: on and off. For me it’s cleaning and food safety. I can do that.