Hi Everyone,
I just got off the phone from Karma, and she sends her love to everyone. She was pretty happy about the good day that Detlef had today. She said that Detlef called her up and asked her to bring him an Asian Chicken Salad from a place that he normally eats during a normal workday. In Karma's words, "he inhaled it!". He would have eaten two, had she brought two! He is craving the good stuff to eat, so Karma is making homemade chicken noodle soup that she is going to take in tomorrow. The appeal of the hospital food has waned. . . . . . all I can say is "Welcome to my life of eating at the hospital cafeteria for 30 years!". Detlef figured out the hospital food thing in about 4 days. . . . . . why am I not surprised?
Medically things were pretty stable today. The blood work drawn is looking good, and his infection seems to be getting better. Overall, Detlef is feeling better, and was actually able to get some work done today as well.
Tomorrow, Karma and Juergen are going to the hospital to watch the Broncos game with Detlef. I told Karma that we would all cheer for the Broncos, even if we don't normally! :).
Currently the plan is for Detlef to stay in the hospital until his infection is stable enough to finish this initial course of chemo. He is due for another infusion of Vincristine and a few more days of Decadron (oral steroid that is part of his chemo), but they don't want to give this while he has an infection. They also need to do the spinal tap, with the accompanying chemo into his spinal fluid. Again, they need him to not have an infection while they are administering this.
Karma says that they are realizing that there will be good and bad days. She said that the bad days that Detlef experienced have made the following good days even sweeter. Detlef has also been very humbled by the outpouring of love and support that he has received. He realizes how lucky he is, and feels bad for those that don't have the kind of support that he has.
Sometimes you just don't realize how many people love and care about you, until something like this happens in your life.
Maybe for the rest of us, the take home message today would be to make sure that we appreciate the lives that we have right now, and the people that we have in our lives. Let's all make sure we tell the people that are important to us, how much we love and appreciate them every single day. Also, maybe we learn to not sweat the small stuff. After being a nurse for almost 30 years, I have had the motto, "Life Is Too Short!", for a long time. If we keep that in mind, then we are able to keep a lot of things in perspective.
Thank you Detlef, Karma, Juergen, Dietmar and Jennifer for letting us follow this incredible journey with you, and sharing all of this experience with us. We love you so very much!
Lisa
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