Fingers crossed

Monday may in fact be THE day Dad finally gets out of the hospital from his initial visit for stomach pain TWO WEEKS ago. I, for one, will be holding my breath; perhaps the rest of you should simply cross your fingers. You’ll know based on the next blog post. It will either be titled “Woo Hoo!” or “#$@& %*!”  Either way it will be a title full of energy and emotion!

Today, however, was beautiful. Dad spent time with loved ones and continued to push the pace with exercising. At this point I am beginning to wonder if he is going to be in better shape leaving than when he showed up… If this pace keeps up exponentially as it is, he will be the fittest man alive in another week.

Before I go too far down that road – Dad did enjoy a juicy cheeseburger for dinner! Dads intestines continue to handle food well and it is giving him more and more energy each day. This food also seems to be kicking the pneumonias butt! Or, perhaps that is the IV antibiotics… Regardless, Dads white blood cell count continues to trend downward as the doctors hoped.

Dad is so ready to be done with the hospital he won’t even wear their patient gowns any longer. Dad switched to a white, soft, cotton undershirt and a soft, lightweight pair of pajama bottoms. He maintains the standard issue no-slip-grip socks, but thats about it. Other than being in need of a haircut, the guy looks like an early morning “mall walker.” [For those of you not familiar with the idiosyncrasies common to the beautiful climate of Phoenix, Arizona:  There is an uncanny number of people who show up to walk laps around our indoor air conditioned malls rather than walking outside.]

Thank you all for so regularly following along with these updates for the last two weeks. As we (hopefully) approach the end of Dads initial visit to the hospital, I expect life to regain some semblance of normalcy for a couple of weeks before chemotherapy begins. I also expect the frequency and information base of this blog to shift as Dads life and treatment also shifts. Without doubt, there will continue to be updates on Dad of all facets. There will also be posts of education and encouragement, ground breaking research and insights of happiness, and of course, hope and love.

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With sincere appreciation of all of your thoughts and prayers for my Dad,

Richard