Tiddly Pom

“What I like doing best is Nothing.” “How do you do Nothing,” asked Pooh after he had wondered for a long time. “Well, it’s when people call out at you just as you’re going off to do it, ‘What are you going to do, Christopher Robin?’ and you say, ‘Oh, Nothing,’ and then you go and do it. It means just going along, listening to all the things you can’t hear, and not bothering.” “Oh!” said Pooh.”

And that was the plan. After a night of not much sleep, Rich was scheduling himself for a whole lotta nothing. It’s one week post-transplant and counts are low which brings an accompanying malaise. A good day for nothing.

And then there were doctor rounds and bullet points of results, procedures, treatments came at us with machine gun speed.

The CT scan of the day before showed the fluid that’s been in Rich’s lung improving but also brewing a little something. That’s the probable cause of the little fevers he gets that come and go. The antibiotics he’s been on are the ones of choice so there is no rush to change protocol.

The scan also showed that the triple lumen catheter in One of Nine’s neck has slightly shifted and isn’t in an optimum place. Maintenance will have to be done to shift it back to where it belongs.

Intestinal upset reared its ugly head again so more tests to make sure it’s not a particularly contagious virus called c-diff… thankfully the results are negative. But it does make for a busy morning.

Platelets are hung on the pole for infusion. A few meds to forestall any reaction are given as well. More of those to be given later as well since today becomes the day that Rituxin will be infused for the second time post-transplant. This is more as a maintenance measure like Tamoxifen is used with breast cancer.

Usually decadron is given with this which gives us pause… that’s one of the hiccup generators so we prefer not to deal with that. We’re grateful to find that the doctors have taken that into consideration and prescribe hydrocortisone instead which does not last as long in the body.

To keep the Rituxin from staying too long, a diuretic is prescribed. Which makes for a busy afternoon.

The doctors are pleased with the progress to date. All indicators are where they should be. Even the infection is considered par for the course.

We get word towards dinner that Interventional Radiology is rescheduling the triple lumen procedure for the next day. Reprieve.

But boy does this throw off the body clock! The Benedryl/Ativan combination that was administered throughout the day is strong and keeps Rich dozing for the bulk of the day in between everything. Not quite the nothing he intended and there are no walks up and down our little hallway outside our little room. After a day of medicine induced naps, the night finds Rich wide awake. Ambien is prescribed but to no avail. My recliner is pulled up next to his bed.

Late night turns to overnight turns to early morning.

Maybe today we’ll do nothing.

Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. “Pooh?” he whispered. “Yes, Piglet?” “Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s hand. “I just wanted to be sure of you.”