Old-school computer

oldschoolcomputer

Here’s an old-school personal computer. And there’s an early model of a text-messaging device right next to it. Pretty impressive technology, if you ask me. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken in an old train station in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, and part of my famous Machinery and Workbench series.

Missed a day or two there. We’re in Los Angeles yesterday and today. LRN4 had her regularly-scheduled doctor appointment here on Monday. The doc decided she needed a bone marrow biopsy, but her platelets were way down to 3.0 (the bare minimum he wants to see is 10 and he prefers at least 30), so she needed a transfusion before he could do the biopsy. By the time the transfusion could be done, it would be too late last night to do the biopsy, so we spent the night and my cousin Betsy’s house and came back to the hospital today. I’m feeling a bit bad because we decided not to pack an emergency bag this time (also last time, but that time it worked out), so we had no clean clothes, no supplies, no pills, no nothing. Fortunately Betsy gave us a couple of toothbrushes and the doctor gave (sold) us the pills LRN4 really needed to get by for a day.

New decision: I’m going to pack a backpack with a change of clothes, toothbrush and razor, and sample sizes of deodorant, toothpaste, and shaving cream. Will get the equivalent supplies for LRN4. Then we can throw it in the trunk when we come here and just put it back away when we get home if we don’t use it. All we’ll need to do to get ready is grab a day’s worth of pills and go.

Anyway. I can’t believe how close we’re coming to Thanksgiving. It’s next week! The kids start coming on Saturday and LRN23 just confirmed he’s coming either on Thanksgiving itself or the day before. I’m really looking forward to having everybody here.

Not too great of a visit with the doctor yesterday. There really isn’t a good treatment for LRN4 right now. He’s ruled out the previously-planned DLI transplant basically because there are so few remaining cells from Melanie running around in LRN4’s body. It’s not likely to work within a reasonable timeframe. So now he’s looking at another stem cell transplant (previously ruled out because of the low likelihood of success) or an upcoming new clinical trial, of which there are a couple of likely candidates that should be available between now and next February. In the meantime, LRN4 will just keep doing rounds of chemo for two weeks out of four.

The good news here is that they can keep the leukemia at bay with chemo for a very long time, and that LRN4 tolerates it extremely well and feels pretty good most of the time. She really only feels bad when she has no chemo for long enough that the leukemia starts taking over again. The bad news, of course, is that they don’t really have a reasonable path to a cure right now. Hard times.

The doctor prescribed Lyrica for LRN4’s chronic foot pain yesterday. It’s pretty expensive and new enough that there’s no generic alternative, but we went and got the prescription filled last night. She took her first pill yesterday evening and reported today that she had her first pain-free night in a long time. It still hurts some when she walks and it may be making her a bit drowsy, but she reports the difference is huge. Good times!

No work yesterday. Probably no work today. Too busy with higher  health-related priorities. Well, that’s not entirely true. I did spend some time thinking and talking about marketing my two products yesterday. So that counts as work, right?

And that’s about it for today. LRN4’s waiting for more platelets right now. That transfusion completes pretty quickly and then we’ll be back on the road for home. I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: tree-sitting dog!

See you tomorrow.

2 Responses to “Old-school computer”

  1. Shannon Says:

    It was a depressing day at the doctor. The good news is that chemo can keep me alive for a long time and it doesn’t make me sick so that’s good news. I have decided to accept that my treatment is my full time job right now. Deciding that makes it easier to keep going.

  2. Sandy Says:

    Sorry your doctor visit was depressing. But you are right, your job is your treatment and you are doing a great job!! And I am so happy to hear that you have some relief from your foot pain! I know you are looking forward to Thanksgiving with your kids, and being in less pain will make it even better. I will try to give you a call in the next day or so!!

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