8:00 PM Monday March 21, 2011

Well, we made it home from UCLA today - back to Lou's for a few more days while the finishing touches are being put on the bathroom.  I went by for a moment today, and it looks AMAZING!  You'll all have to come by and get the grand tour when Ed starts receiving visitors! 

Sunday afternoon, Ed had a notion to try and eat a little something more substantial than the clear liquids I've already mentioned.  By the way, I don't think the broth should officially qualify as "clear" since it so closely resembles the cloudy residue washed out of aquarium filters, but I guess it's just a case of semantics.......  anyway, we asked the doctor and he okayed Ed for a "mechanical soft" diet, whatever that means.  No sooner had he authorized the upgrade, when the nurse came in with a printed menu that seemed more like room service than hospital food.  We were directed to call the "food service" number and order whatever looked appealing from the choices.  Apparently all the meals are made to order - no noisy food carts lumbering through the halls dispensing lukewarm fare destined to languish under plastic domes.  We called the number, ordered chicken noodle soup, a grilled cheese sandwich and orange sherbet.  About 12 minutes later, a nice young man dressed in a white starched shirt with black bow tie and black slacks, knocked on the door and presented a bed tray (with handles and a placemat) carrying the food choices into the room.  He was as mannered as any room service waiter in a 5-star hotel!  What a surprise.  The soup was quite good, but the grilled cheese (on white bread) was cut up into little tiny cubes since the soft diet is apparently also for people with swallowing issues so they cut up the food like you would for a toddler.  Kind of disappointing, but Ed ate most of the soup and some of the orange sherbet, so the meal was a success.  He hasn't felt much like eating since, but it was a good start.

The chemo went well overall - no allergic reactions or unexpected difficulties.  Again, it was a long day of transitioning so Ed is pretty wiped out tonight. So far the side effects have been suckey but not as overwhelming as they were after the last chemo.  Ed has an appointment with Dr. Menco on Tuesday afternoon to get his Nulasta shot for the white blood cell stimulation and he'll probably give us blood work results as well.  We hope the next few days will be restful and that the chemo will do it's work on the lymphoma.  We are lucky to have had access to such a renowned facility and the staff of caring, hard-working and bright people.  It was humbling to say the least. 

It's time for bed - Ed is sleeping peacefully with his TPN "midnight snack" so I'll close for now.

P.S.:  Wasn't the rain on Sunday INCREDIBLE?????  Every room at the Reagan UCLA Medical Center has a view of something "green" (trees, grass, etc.) and we watched the rain beating on the window all day against a backdrop of trees and park-like plazas with balcony planters of cascading foliage.  Very pretty (hey, I'm from Seattle, so I can appreciate rain now and then).   It certainly kept the on-call guys super busy at the shop and more is promised for the rest of this week.  We'll all have to break out the hot chocolate and tea. 

Back tomorrow......stay warm and dry.....