Back Home Again!

Fri, 11 Feb 2000

Hi all,

Phil is happy to be back home again, after his stay in the hospital. All went well and now he can relax for two weeks. He doesn't even have to see a doctor unless his tanks are running low, and he needs some blood or platelets. Right now things look really good! His counts are high. It is a welcome break!

The stay in the hospital was a complicated set of chemo drugs. The nurses did a wonderful job of keeping it all straight. I was talking to one of them about how she ended up working with oncology kids. She told me an interesting story of having had a friend in high school with Leukemia and visiting her in the hospital. When she walked into the ward of bald-headed, pale skinned patients, she knew that was what she wanted to do.....it does take special people! Then when she got her first nursing job, she was assigned to the 4th floor. Being young and inexperienced, she didn't question what the 4th floor was, she just went there. It was the oncology ward....no mistake, I'm sure! She enjoys the challenge of administering chemo meds. They have to be given at the right time, with the right follow-up meds and many cannot be combined with others because they are not compatible. Some run for an hour, others for a lot longer. Blood levels have to be checked to see how the liver and other organs are functioning and whether the body is ridding itself of excess chemo as it should. The doctors can't be there all the time, so they do their rounds, prescribe what is needed and leave the rest to the nurses. It's a heavy responsibility! I asked one of the nurses one day if she had considered becoming a doctor. She explained that she has been asked that before but she likes having the doctor to refer to. Obviously, it takes both doctor and nurse to get the job done.

There has been a drug available for about 7 or 8 years now called Zofran. One of Phil's doctors actually got cancer when she was studying to be a doctor. She was telling me that during the first part of her chemo, it was not available. Sometime in the middle, it did become available. It is a very, very expensive drug, but worth every dollar! Fortunately, with Kaiser we don't even pay a partial payment for it, but she said she would have run up every credit card she had to get it, it made such a difference with the nausea. She said children getting what Phil was getting would have thrown up 30 plus times a day before Zofran. He never got sick once, and even ate most meals during his stay this last time! WOW!

Obviously, I "visited" a lot while being with Phil in the hospital! :) Just sharing a few of the "war" stories I heard!