Tuesday, February 8, 2011

The Dark Knight

It's 7:50pm and I'm just getting home after visiting Tom for a few hours. I had to work until 4pm. It's very difficult to be at work, thinking about Tom and what pain and suffering he is experiencing. I'm trying to get my papers in order - signed by the doctors - to be eligible for Family and Medical Leave. There are so many doctors, that it's difficult to get one of them to take the time to fill out six documents. I'll admit, that's a lot of paperwork for anyone. Hopefully, one of the doctors on call tonight will complete the forms and I'll have a nice surprise waiting for me when I make my morning 5 minute visit on the way to work. Once I have the Family Leave in place, I will be able to spend all the time I want with Tom every day.

Tom is pretty much out of it. He has to control his pain with heavy sedatives, which knock him out. A dermatologist saw him tonight and explained to me how he planned on helping Tom's wounds heal. He is going to use vaseline and gauze to protect his extremely sensitive shingles. He has large, open, oozing, blisters that are sensitive to air and toilettes. Vaseline sounds strange in that it seems that it would prohibit the blisters from healing. I guess they heal from the inside out.

The stem cell doctor also visited. Tom can't stand him - he feels that all of his trouble started with this doctor because he was the first one to advise Tom about transplants. Tom has said that if he could rewind life he would never have undergone the stem cell transplant. He remains frustrated that he didn't get a second opinion when he first found out he had leukemia. When this doctor walked in he asked Tom if he remembered him. Tom said, "Yea, like a dark knight". The doctor, a very serious man said, "Well, I don't know what that means". Tom was drugged when he said that.

Anyway, the transplant doctor said that although he doesn't think the leukemia has returned, he still wants to get a blood sample to test for traces of it. He was more concerned with Tom's liver problems, as well as his deterioration. Tom wasn't able to lift his leg more than a couple of inches when the doctor asked him to show how much he could lift it.
Finally, the doctor (not a specialist) who consulted with Tom today, said that Tom will remain at Northside for "quite some time" and that he "won't be leaving anytime soon".


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

thank you for all your updates. Tom is in our prayers for healing, healing, healing, and that you and family will have the strength to keep on keeping on with this whatever the outcome.