Progress and discharge

Sun 09/02/07
Susan was in good shape during our visit and was looking forward to a late afternoon bath. We expect her to be discharged on Tuesday with home-health nursing care and a four-week antifungal regimen. She is scheduled to begin radiation treatment on Wednesday at Long Beach Memorial and may start oral chemotherapy in another week.
Her latest chuckler was a comment about the professional quality of the nurses who care for her and how there's very little negativity – "A couple of them are not princes or princesses from the palace of joy, but most of them are pretty positive." She's got a million of them, I tell ya.

Here's a summary of Susan's condition: a grade IV brain tumor, 2 craniotomies, 5 hospitalizations in 10 weeks, current treatment for fungal meningitis, and ready to begin simultaneous radiation and chemotherapy. I'm on unpaid leave from work while holding down the fort and dodging gallstone attacks. That said, we're continually amazed at the daily readings from Streams in the Desert, the book Lisa Korver gave us. Whatever difficulties author LB Cowman endured prior to publishing the book in 1925, she knew suffering. On Sunday, this thought gripped me: sometimes we go through hardship unrelieved by encouragements because we need to trust God without them. Understanding may come (or not), but that is for another day. Meanwhile, His Word becomes real to us and we learn to trust Him.
Susan has had less pain the past couple of days and is in good spirits. Her attitude is wonderful – she's thankful to be feeling better because it allows her to be more devoted to others. Since it's hard to give out of weakness, she wants to be strong. I love that.

Mon 09/03/07
Susan & I spent Labor Day afternoon in her room at UCLA, the first time we missed being at our family cabin for this holiday in about 15 years. We took a walk down the long hospital corridor as I guided her by the hand and steered her IV carriage.

Tue 09/04/07
This was a long, frustrating day of waiting for a final spinal tap that never happened and discharge instructions that were not issued. We strolled the hallways again, this time with Susan using her new, wheeled walker – a stabilizing aid against vertigo and partial blindness. I learned later that the infectious disease and neurology teams had to sort out differing opinions on how to handle her anti-fungal meds (IV vs oral). While I'm grateful they have her best interests in mind, my gratitude was overcome by the letdown of leaving Susan there overnight again.

Wed 09/05/07
Susan was discharged in time for us to go home for lunch and get to her first radiation therapy at LB Memorial by 3pm. The treatment went smoothly as we prepared for the eventual side effects of localized hair loss, skin irritation and overall fatigue.