Has the Flu Flown?

Oh, what a week Joyce and I have had! Last Wednesday or Thursday, Joyce began hacking and coughing and pondering whether the next breath was really worth the effort. I ran errands, tried to comfort her--the same that she does for me when I am down.

And then ... Friday morning ... I awoke with a certainty that she and I were now, well, bedfellows. I called my physician's group, and they worked me in right away. Probably flu, they said. Have a nice day.

I didn't.

Friday was horrible. Ditto Saturday. Sunday sucked. And I have to say that it really helped our mental health to look outside and see some of the coldest, nastiest weather ... Nome outside our Home.

Slowly, we emerged. Last Thursday, as I said, I ran some errands, but after they were over, I did not leave the house again (except for that Friday a.m. trip to the doctor) until Tuesday.

Meanwhile--to add to the joy--all the scheduling for my upcoming immunotherapy got screwed up, and we had to reschedule everything--and this morning (Wed.), bright and early, I headed out to the local medical lab for a blood draw to start the bloodball rolling.

On Tues., Jan. 16, I will go to the Akron Red Cross to have my blood drained (Dracula is on call), the T-cells removed, my blood returned, my T-cells flown to Atlanta, where they will (we hope) acquire super powers; then on Fri., January 19, down to the main campus of Seidman Cancer Center in University Circle, where my now-magic blood will be reinfused.

A week's rest; repeat the whole thing.

A week's rest; repeat the whole thing.

Five weeks in all. And we're just hoping that the weather cooperates (it's been so cooperative so far this New Year) so that planes are not grounded and that roads are open from Hudson to University Circle and that hungry yeti are not surrounding stuck cars.

We're of course hoping the T-cells will kick some cancer butt--at least for a while (there is no cure for me, not yet).

We're hoping that Dracula's teeth are very very sharp so that the blood-letting and -returning will proceed no more eerily than necessary.

In middle school, more than 30 years ago, our son played Dracula in a school production that I directed (no, there was no nepotism!). So ... I'm hoping that's a good omen, having a Dracula in the family?