Day 28 -- A New Year

Deb and I had a nice evening after the posting last night. We did a few more laps, had some ginger ale (did I say ginger ale??) and were putting the lights out around 10:45. They hung the chemo early and it was done by 11:00 and the nursing staff pretty much left us alone for the evening, except when the IV alarms went off. That happened about 3 times throughout the course of the evening -- and not for any reason you nurse buggars might be thinking about!!

Deb rested very well last night except for her bathroom breaks, which are no small feat, i.e., get out of bed without tangling your IV lines, unplug the IV machine, traverse the room, open the door, turn on the lights, wheel the contraption into the bathroom, perform, catch the output, measure the output, record the output, wheel the machine back across the room, replug the machine, back into bed with untangled lines, and back to sleep. We did this exercise once every two hours or so. Deb is pretty good at it -- of course I was stumbling and tripping behind here with the plugs and the pole, but we did not have any mishaps. No wonder the poor woman is tired! Add to this the fact that Deb's room overlooks the heliport (white light -- red light -- white light -- red light -- all night long) it is a sureal experience.

The recliner was a cross between Premium Economy and Business class. Unfortunately, it was made out of some cheap leather substitute, and even with a blanket and sheet underneath, I was sweating for most of the night. Deb on the other hand was under a sheet, blanket and top blanket and said that she was cold! But on balance, I got twice as much sleep there as on the overseas flight and felt OK for the rest of the day.

Deb did her morning routine, i.e., hot bath with the Donna TeaBags towels, while we made up her bed for tonight. This bed making ritual consists of an air mattress on the bed, a fitted sheet over the air mattress, a blanket folded in half to counteract the rubber of the air mattress, another fitted sheet to hold the bottom sections together, a sleeping sheet, one sleeping blanket and then a top blanket - now from Carole Ann and Becky. By the time Deb finished her bath, I was in another full sweat from running around the bed creating this sleeping pyramid!

We had breakfast together and did some laps before I left for the day. Shortly after I arrived home, Jester, Pammie and C were on their way down to the hospital. They were able to visit for about 1.5 hours and C did a great job. He was in Debbie's room watching one of the Baby Einstein movies on the DVD player while the girls visited. Deb was very happy for this special time.

When Jester was leaving, Joey and Allie were coming up and they visited for another 1.5 hours. Deb had a lunch of Mac and Cheese (from home) and she did some more laps. Considering the circumstances, Deb had a very good New Years Day.

Mike called from Miami -- he is having the time of his life, but cannot believe how expensive everything is. He told me $50.00 for one round of drinks (notice not food) for 5 people. I am sure that he will be crabbing for lunch in a day or two unless he can meet up with his Uncle Rick.

Debbie has a full schedule for tomorrow and we hope that she continues as strong as she has been so far for round 2. If there is going to be another "dark time" I am guessing that it will come toward the end of next week. I will keep you posted.

Deb sends her love to all.