Day 7

Went up this morning to visit. Dad was starting his physical therapy session. He had to pedal on this dilapidated little machine for 15 minutes. He did it, no problem. Then he had to arm pedal with the same machine on a table for 15 minutes. He did that too, no problem. He's really lobbying for hall priveleges where he can get up and walk, so he was determined to get through the whole 15 minutes of each exercise. He didn't seem like he couldn't do it, but he was tired afterwards. The PT tech was impressed and said he'd put in a good word for him! : )

My Mom said a nurse (we'll call her head honcho nurse) came in last evening and talked to them for about a half hour. I guess my Dad would not be a good candidate for bone marrow transplant down the road, which is disappointing. His age and the fact that his brother (who would only have a 1:4 chance of matching) has health issues pretty much narrow his chances of being suitable.

They said head honcho nurse was pretty vague about everything - which seems to be the way they all are. They don't want to say too much for fear of freaking you out or being wrong. Right now, we are still working towards remission and then next week, hopefully we'll be getting there. The following week, we'll be building back up his immune system and hopefully, the final week, going home. He will have to come back for several days of chemo, possibly, in the next several months, at varying intervals. But that chemo will be to target the specific kind of AML that my Dad has - it will be his own special cocktail of drugs.

One day at a time. I am sure they told my parents a lot more, but they are still processing and like all parents, want to protect me (or their kids), so they don't tell me everything (which drives me batty).

His WBC count yesterday was at a 1. It could go to 0, we'll see. He did get a couple bags of blood transfused yesterday too. They want to keep some good WBC's going in since the chemo kills both the good and the bad.

He was told to back off the liquid intake. He has some fluid on his lungs, so they're using diuretics to try and diffuse some of that, but he keeps drinking so much that they are doing no good. So, he's on sips and ice for a while. We got some lifesavers and hopefully that will help with the dry mouth.

His heart is still in "a-fib" and they've pretty much determined it could just stay that way. Apparently people live with that for years and never know. He's getting another EKG today.

Other than all of that - he seemed in okay spirits. He's definitely turned a corner and is in fight mode, thank GOD. When I left he was working on eating a scrambled egg and a piece of toast (yes, one egg and one piece of toast!) and a chocolate shake.

One week down, three to go. Thanks for the prayers!