Taking an aggressive approach

This has been another long week. The Hemotology doctors have done their best and have decided that the best approach to his anemia by increasing the amount of predinosone - steroids that he is taking. They did the marrow biopsy, and the good news is that the marrow was producing new blood cells, just at a suppressed rate. We do know that he still is producing an antibody that is killing off his blood cells, just at a slower rate. The goal of the steroids is to stop his body from producing the antibody. We have spent the last several days testing, transfusions and tomorrow morning we start again. There are some times we just get tired of being there. That seems to be when we meet someone that is going through the things we are, but they do not have the same prognosis. We know we have a very good chance of beating this and being home, maybe even before the end of the month. Some patients do not get good news. Every day people struggle with some event, usually they are small things, but they can feel huge. We like to plan our lives and live them in nice neat units. Andrea and I were talking about this, the desire to have perfection in our living. We always strive for it, and really, it would be foolish to want chaos in our lives, but what is perfection? Growing up I told my daughters that they did not have to be perfect, that perfection was boring, and believe me, they took my word for it. I do not regret telling them that, because it is looking for the positive in the ups and downs in our living that makes the unexpected some of the rich experiences we have. It is after all, a matter of perspective. When we complain of not having enough to meet our needs, we only need to look at the homeless among us. Yes some are there through choices, and others because of a twist. When we are upset by a bad cold or the 24 hr flu, we only have to visit the hospital. When you are in the hospital tired of the pokes, prods, and endless tests, you only have to see a family with a child that is doing this and yet they know what waits for them. So for us it is hard, and it has been a long week, and the aggressive approach does mean Tim could get moody, hallucinate, get nauseated, be super sensitive to touch or light, but it also means that it give him a better chance of getting home and putting much of this behind him. That is really a pretty positive outcome.

Oh one more thing, Tim says if you feel compelled you can send money or stronger drugs, and he hopes maybe for a pleasant hallucination if he has one. Good to see the steroids have not blocked his sense of humor.