132) A Good Day

May 17, 2007
Thursday

El Milagro: I got here on time today and as Jason was canulating me, I noticed that Jennifer the Dietician was going around the room reporting back to folks on their latest blood work. On my right, there was an older woman and her daughter who are here for the first time and being taught the process by Ron the Nurse. The older woman seemed not too sure about the whole thing and her daughter was trying to be upbeat, saying things like, “Wow; if I were here I’d just take a nap or watch TV.” and “this place is really pretty nice, isn’t it?”. I imagine the older woman is her mother, and she sees right through her daughter’s façade of fun-ness. Nobody is thrilled to come here the first time. Later on, after the daughter leaves, the old woman pulls her red tartan plaid blanket up over her head and doesn't come out for hours. At times she peeks out like a turtle peeks out of it's shell to see if it's safe.

Jennifer the Dietician comes over and reports to me that all my blood work was excellent this time! My phosphorous and potassium are great and my blood count is back up. This is two good lab reports in a row! WOW! I can run out and break my diet rules with impunity!

Well, maybe I can have one enchilada and take my Fosrenol right afterwards. Actually, I’ve been taking ½ a Fosrenol in the middle of each meal cause if I take a whole one afterwards, it makes me nauseous. I got tired of that real fast so I changed my order to taking ½ in the middle and that has led to these fabulous lab reports. Before I had to take so many meds, I used to wonder why anyone would not follow their prescriptions to a ‘T’, but now, as one of the medical guinea pigs, I see the reasoning behind patients ignoring their doctors and experimenting with different doses at different times than the doctors prescribe. Its like taking back some control over your own self: I have more autonomy when I decide how and when to take my meds. And this time it is working. I must admit that since my Fosrenol (an outrageously expensive medication; which is why it works, maybe) has helped my phosphorous get back into the “normal” range, I have been experimenting with eating small tastes of a few of the foods on the “NO NO NO” list, just to see what would happen. And wha-da-ya-know… this month’s phos numbers are still okay. Makes me wanta cheat just a little bit more. Lets see… I think I’d like some mixed nuts.

So Jennifer reports and leaves and I get back to listening to All Things Considered and then turn over to some PBS show since Survivor is over. I drift off a little and then…

POOF! Right in front of me is my smiling son Johnny, looking scraggly and extremely huggable. “Hi dad” he says, and I say, “Johnny!” and he bends over to hug me but that really isn’t gonna happen in my prostrate position so I just put my hand up and pat his face as he bends over. He’s smiling and I can’t even describe how it is to open your eyes to see your son after 10 months of not seeing him. He looks just the same! His mom brought him by after picking him up at the airport and we converse a little before they go out to dinner. He’ll be around all weekend before going down to Center Point to work at Camp C.A.M.P. for the summer. What can I say? The boy’s back and he brought all his parts back from Hawaii. It is a good day!

Notes: In at 75.2 and out at 72.2