to the cancer clinic

Once again it's time for an all-too-frequent road trip to Hershey Medical Center's Cancer Institute.  On Monday I have a post-bone-marrow-transplant checkup with my hematologist/oncologist.  I need to be there two hours early for blood tests so that the lab can have the results ready for Dr. Claxton on time.  Since Hershey is a two-hour drive away, rather than leaving before sunrise on Monday Krissy and I will drive down on Sunday and stay overnight at Hope Lodge, the American Cancer Society's group residence for cancer patients and their caregivers where all of us can stay while in treatment at Hershey.  I'll be away from the computer on Sunday and Monday so I won't be posting any journal entries on these days.  I didn't want you to wonder if I had lost interest in my journal.

 

These checkups aren't too bad as long as they don't do a bone marrow biopsy.  I had a spinal tap once; bone marrow biopsies are worse.  But at least I'm making progress.  With my last appointment in Hershey I broke the four-week barrier.  For a long time Dr. Claxton scheduled my checkups four weeks apart.  Then he extended them to every six weeks, but each time I would have some sort of complication which would force me to go back after no more than four weeks.  This past August 30  marked the first time I stayed healthy long enough to keep my scheduled six week checkup.  There was no fanfare, but it was a relief nonetheless.

 

Another good thing about staying healthy is that I can drive us to Hershey myself.  This eliminates an often lengthy search for someone who has a free day to drive us there.  A number of times we have had to travel by bus.  

 

Several Hershey nurses have told us that they can make the same trip that we do in little more than an hour.  They must be aspiring NASCAR drivers.  I keep to the speed limit for the practical reason that I can't afford to pay a fine.  The whole way down and back other vehicles are passing us like we are riding in an oxcart.  Few things make a leadfoot angrier than a speed-limit driver in a No Passing Zone.  I'll be glad when we're home again. 

 

I'll see all of you on Tuesday.  This journaling is addictive.  I told Krissy that I might get five comments; I want to thank all of you for proving me wrong.  

 

 

Thanks, Sugar, for the graphic.