Fatten up the "Turkey" (Who are you calling a Turkey?)

After the long Holiday weekend, Dad is back on his daily dose of radiation, constant FuFu infusion, and weekly iron and gemcytobene infusion. Mondays are the long days at Huntsman- the infusions take hours. But we get it all over with at the beginning of the week. He is doing well, although the constant nausea continues.

We have never paid much attention to numbers – age, weight, speed limit, the BYU/Utah football score. But the other day we got the results of Dennis’ latest blood labs, and ooh, dat boy look good. How’s this for some impressive stats? ANC – 3.9, bili – 1.1! Impressive, huh? This, of course, means he could be infused with iron and gemcytobene, get re-tethered to his fufu bag, (we’ve missed that little appendage over the holiday weekend) and be zapped by the hospital power rangers. This is all very good news. We love the numbers.

Some numbers we don’t love as much. There has been a slight weight loss. His end zone is a little diminished. He’s still a hunka burnin’love, but he’s down a “hunka.” Now, we are not worried; he’s still got his 2-pack abs. But it takes less Saran Wrap to truss up his PICC line (by the way, neighbors, the primal scream you may hear in the mornings is the result of ripping tape that secures the Saran Wrap off his armpit hairs. I need to be more careful with the old double sticky!) and the elderly arm-wrestling partner has just agreed to the “best 7 out of 9.”

But in an effort to chubby him up, I suggested I bring the old apron out of retirement and rustle up some vittles. He immediately ate three chocolate bars and a bowl of pudding! I was too thrilled to be offended. I never realized the power of threatening to take the apron down from the rafters.

He is still 5’9” (6’ with the fro) and he looks pink and cute... everyone knows the medicinal impact of cute. He felt a little light-headed this morning, but that comes from being around so many blonds.(and loss of pit hair). Lightheadedness is a perpetual state of being for some of us. (Sidenote:This morning I was stricken with “sympathy jaundice,” but Dennis said not to mistake blond for yellow. Just the same, I may stay out of his fufu bag for a while.) But we are re-contouring his body one can of lard at a time. Everything he eats is plastered with lard, butter, or chocolate. If that doesn’t work…I’m going for the apron!

I haven’t learned many new words lately (of course, I still think oxalaplatinum is a new shade of blond) but I have learned new definitions for old words. Words such as “beauty,” and “courage.” There was a lady in the infusion room who was completely bald, no visible hair anywhere. She had on big, bold gold earrings and red lipstick, and her smile illuminated the place. What a woman! She was beautiful. There have been people with varying degrees of surgical disfigurement whose courage and grace are contagious. ( I guess “Frankenbooby” is not such a bad term of endearment after all) They all have what the Clot refers to as “Cyrano souls.” We are working on re-contouring ourselves. This is all good.

Our Top Ten Thanksgiving List:
Featuring “Thankful” and “Not So Thankful”
Not So Thankful: Cancer
Thankful: Cancer Specialists at the Huntsman Center
Not So Thankful: Loss of Appetite
Thankful: FuFu Bags
Not So Thankful: Singed Chest Hair
Thankful: Radiation
Not So Thankful: Nausea
Thankful: Zofran (anti-nausea meds)
Not so Thankful: Whiny kids (mostly Erin and Brodi)
Thankful: Patient kids, concerned for Ampa
Not so Thankful: The color BYU blue
Thankful: The color Jaundice Yellow
Not so Thankful: 4th and 18 to go.
Thankful: Beginning of Ute Basketball Season
Not so Thankful: score of 17 to 10.
Thankful: ANC score greater than 1.5 (Blood Count)
Not so Thankful: “Clot” home cooking
Thankful: “Clot” neighbor cooking
Very very thankful for friends, neighbors, family, the ever-growing clot, and our new definition of “Beautiful”.

Love,
the Clot