Day 13 - PM

Well, one thing’s for sure, Leukemia keeps you on your toes, with no two days being alike. I truly thought today would be like yesterday – similar blood results, lots of visits from the nurses, a stroll up and down the hallway, an afternoon nap and a good night’s rest. Then she wakes up with a fever, not feeling well. Even though virtually every patient undergoing chemotherapy similar to Courtney’s, where the white blood cells are wiped out, experience fevers, precautions still have to be taken. That means more blood drawn for culturing (three days for results) and urine sample for the same thing and chest x-rays.

So, Courtney got to go on a field trip. It’s not very often that they let her leave her floor. Unfortunately, the field trip was to the hospital’s dungeon. OK, so it’s not a dungeon, but at night, when no one is around, it has to be one of the creepiest places on earth. Long narrow hallways, empty gurneys lining the walls and 6 ½ foot ceilings that make you feel much taller than normal. The first time Courtney made a trip down there, she was laying on her back as they transported her from the ER to her room. She commented on how eerie the trip was as she was rolled down the hallways so close to the ceiling. Well, radiology is in the dungeon, so she got to go there for her chest x-ray. The reason for the x-ray is to make sure there’s no infection or fluid collecting in her lungs. It’s apparently standard procedure whenever there’s a fever over 100.

After the trip, she was feeling a little better. So we took a walk down all four wings of her floor and ended with a short game of dominoes before she started getting drowsy. Shortly thereafter it was time for me to go home to have dinner with the kids. The day went by really fast. Actually, it’s hard to believe how fast the past 14 days have gone. That’s really encouraging since we're looking at another 14 days or more in the hospital. If the next two weeks go by as fast as the last two, we’ll be home in no time.

The last time I talked to her was about 7:30. She sounded tired and said she wasn’t feeling so well. Let’s hope and pray that she sleeps well tonight and wakes up feeling much better than she did this morning.