December 18th - 23rd: Won't My Guts Spill Out?

MONDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2006 10:13 PM, PST

“Wait, if you remove that dressing, won’t my guts just spill out?” Keith making sure the surgical resident knew what she was doing before his outer dressing was removed this morning.

“There must be an airspace left over from where my tumor was removed, because when I walk, I can feel my insides move around.” Another gem uttered as Keith was getting ready to leave the hospital.

Parent’s Note:

My theory that Monday’s are productive days as days go in the hospital was borne out today.

Around 7 am this morning Keith’s surgeon, Dr. Sydorak, stopped by the room to check in. Of course Keith was still sleeping but I was awake getting ready for a day at the office. So the doctor and I chatted a bit and he asked how Keith was feeling; the usual stuff. After a while asked if Keith might be interested in going home today. Instantaneously we both saw Keith’s eyes pop open and a wide smile cross his face.

“Well, it will depend on whether or not you can take pain medicine orally or not so we can be sure you will be comfortable at home.” countered Dr. Sydorak with a feigned look of seriousness.

It was pretty clear to me that Keith would be willing to swallow the nastiest stuff ever used on Fear Factor just to get out of the hospital a day early. Apparently his acting skills honed in last year’s “Honk!” production paid off and the discharge papers were prepared in short order.

So if you recall yesterday’s journal, we were anticipating a Tuesday discharge, even that being a day earlier than the Wednesday discharge we had anticipated prior to surgery.

Well forget that, he’s already home!

It just goes to show: Keith is an odds-beater extraordinaire …….

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2006 11:23 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

Apologies in advance as tonight’s journal entry is a bit lame.

I left the house for the office before Keith was awake and when I returned he was already asleep in bed so I cannot relay a first hand account of his day. What I can offer through Josie is that as of mid-afternoon he had not asked for any pain medication and was feeling pretty good overall. The only incident to speak of was an unexpected sneeze. Ouch. It just goes to show how we take for granted the muscles necessary to produce a sneeze.

Otherwise all’s well.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2006 10:29 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

A quiet day for Keith – sedentary for most of the day, not much of an appetite, but restoring his energy reserves nonetheless. He says he feels better today than yesterday so a steady recovery so far.

Apart from not having water service for most of the day because of a water main repair in the neighborhood, perhaps the most exciting event was a small earthquake around dinnertime centered a few miles from here in Berkeley. Earthquake

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2006 10:15 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

The winter solstice is upon us and another good day for Keith. He’s very much on the mend. The day began with blueberry pancakes – what better start is there?

Later in the morning Josie and Annie accompanied Keith to the clinic at Children’s Hospital to have blood drawn (ten vials) in preparation for his next procedure at Stanford just after the New Year. With appropriate seasonal spirit Keith once again donned his Santa hat for the visit making everyone at the clinic smile. He is scheduled to have another bone marrow harvest so that there will be a back-up supply of stem cells for his bone marrow transplant. An insurance policy of sorts. The results of his lab tests all came back very positive. He has plenty of white blood cells, platelets and hemoglobin to go around.

The Christmas spirit is becoming more evident around our house. Besides the Great Barrier Reef tree and a gingerbread house that the boys decorated, we now have lights ablaze on the outside railings, lots of tempting cookies and candy floating around the house and a very positive sign indeed: Keith wants to get out of the house and go shopping for gifts for his family including, of course, Kirby.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22, 2006 10:28 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

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Having trouble reading binary code? Ok, if you really need help, copy and paste the code above into the translator located at the following: Binary

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2006 11:45 PM, PST

Parent’s Note:

The Christmas spirit was in the air and Keith felt like getting in touch with his inner-shopper today so he climbed in the car along with Scott, Annie, Don and myself and we headed off in search for the purrrr-fect gifts for Kirby. Needless to say I think Kirby will be very pleased with his presents on Christmas morning. Apart from doing a good thing for Kirby, Keith did a good thing for himself as well just by getting out of the house and giving his legs a little workout.