Independence Day

It is early Sunday morning here on the 10th floor at Kaiser Foundation Hosptital in Oakland. We're due to be discharged in a few hours after 5 nights here completing cycle 12 of chemo.

We have a large 3-bed room to ourselves after a roundrobin of roommates finally cycled out, leaving us remaining on this holiday weekend. Millie is sleeping, surrounded by 5 stuffed animals, as the rising sun brightens the buildings of downtown Oakland out our window.

Our night nurse, Hing, was tickled to find the true purpose of Millie's cadre of stuffed animals. Millie chooses them at home not for their comfort or softness, but for their size and weight for hurling. They are zipped into her rolling backpack for the hospital trip, and one by one are thrown at my head in the night when Millie requires assistance with the bedside commode. I am reminded of James Thurber's hilarious short story "the Night the Bed Fell" and the quote, (regarding a shoe-throwing and burglar-phobic aunt), "Sometimes she threw them all, sometimes a couple of pair".

We had a good stay this week. I worked with our doctor to reduce and revise the administration of decadron (the miracle anti-nausea drug I posted about months ago), as this drug causes terrible moodiness in Millie. With the new plan, Millie only had the drug every other day, and the dosage was cut in half. The difference was very noticable. Millie was cheerful and communicative, and took countless fast walks around the floor giggling as she rushed by nurses. Her new foot brace has given her great confidence- she loved racing around with me pantingly trying to keep up, pushing the IV pole behind her.

Millie was even social this week, choosing to enter the playroom when it was occupied by other children. (She usually avoids the playroom if there is another kid inside). She sat at the table and painted with another little girl while a little boy sat nearby playing with toys. The three kids were all here for chemo- and their long tubes from the IV poles were constantly getting tangled (parents laughingly quoting Ghostbusters "Don't cross the streams!").

I heard that there were 12 kids here for chemo this week.

Millie is stirring now, perhaps knowing that soon she will be "hep-blocked" and detached from the IV pump. We'll pack up our things and scoot out of here in time to enjoy a Fourth of July with friends and family.

Next post I'll have to write about the Make-A-Wish foundation and Millie's wish to have a room remodel. Lots happening there!