One day completed

Everything went well today....Dad did fine with the bone marrow biopsy. He also had a chest xray which was fast and easy. We met with several people and have all sorts of consent forms to look over tonight and sign tomorrow. The last appointment today was for the basic care class. It really wasn't geared to the cooperative care program...just basic things (after being admitted to the hospital) to be watching for. Dad didn't especially like the class because they dwelled on all the negative things that could happen. He said afterwards that he was going to have his own experience (he knows that Nurse Ratchet will be looking for those details so he doesn't have to think about them!). Our big adventure today was eating out...in the hospital cafeteria (if things aren't safe in the hospital cafeteria, there's a real problem!). Anyway...it was the first time we had "eaten out" since January, I think....and it tasted surprisingly good! We had 2 hours of spare time this afternoon between 2 sessions so Dad thought his hemoglobin needed help, so we got a take out serving of The B0hemian Cafe's liver dumpling soup to have along with dinner. A great source of iron! Then, coming back to the Med Center we went through Dad's childhood neighborhood. It was a momentous occasion when I finally got to see Mrs. Sessinghouse's place. She's the neighbor lady who didn't like Dad his brothers running around the neighborhood having fun....and one time she made the fatal mistake of telling Dad's dad (Grandpa) if he was going to raise livestock he should move to the country. Uh...wrong thing to do! I also saw Marty Hyman's house...he was the next door kid who spent all his time throwing a tin can up on his roof and most of the time it would come down and hit him on the head...but he just kept doing it over and over again. We also saw Ribby Bassett's house (Sara...that one's for you!). Sara thinks that's the best kid's name ever! We also passed Twin Ridge Boulevard where Dad, Larry, and other neighborhood boys played baseball as young boys. They played ball on the grassy median between both sides of the street. Dad remembers that it was the way that many funeral processions passed, and as the funeral cars went by each one of the young boys playing baseball would stop playing, take off their hats, and have a moment of silence for the deceased as they went by. Ah...the good old days of growing up in the 50's. Back to reality and to today...Dad is doing fine...a bit tired after a long day. He will be heading to bed soon. We have another long day tomorrow. Here's the schedule: 9:00 treadmill stress test/EKG, 10:30 patient registration, 1:00 meet with the social worker (don't know exactly what that's about), 2:30 meet with the pharmacy counselor (don't know what that's about either), 3:00 take a tour of the transplant center and see a video, and 4:00 meet with Dr. Bierman's partner (Dr. Bierman is out of town this week...but back next week). At this meeting the doctor will go over the test results and then hopefully give the final go ahead to start giving the shots that will encourage those stem cells to get into the blood stream. So...I will post the results of tomorrow's events tomorrow evening.