A lot has happened in just a few days. On Friday afternoon, we left for Stanford Hospital in anticipation of Paul getting his infusion of BCNU (a strong chemo). Unfortunately, the hospital didn’t have a bed ready at the time they projected. By 8 p.m., they still didn’t have a bed ready, so they decided to start his 4 hour saline infusion in a small room near the isolation ward. Tim drove home to Berkeley, since our original plan was for Tim to drive home much earlier when we and the nurses thought I’d be in my room and starting chemo. When Tim got home he packed up the car with all our stuff for a month (meds, clothes, food), planning to drive back Saturday morning. We couldn’t get into our Stanford apartment until Saturday afternoon — which is why Tim had no place to stay near Stanford on Friday night. Finally, the hospital had a bed available for Paul around 9 p.m. Once the saline infusion was finished around 1:30 a.m., they began the 2 hour infusion of BCNU.

Paul got no sleep on Friday night. It reminded him of college. By the time he was done with the BCNU, it was 3:30 am. It was too late to give him anything for sleep to combat the chemo + dexamethasone (steroids) which was keeping him awake. The time cut-off follows Stanford’s protocol. Then, Paul developed akathisia – an uncontrolable total body writhing that’s kind of like having restless legs except all over. That lasted until 7 a.m.

Tim came back close to noon on Saturday, and Paul was released from the hospital in the early afternoon after having a portable hydration pump attached. We headed off to the apartment and unpacked all our stuff. On Sunday, we headed back to Stanford for Paul to get his final blast of chemo – melphalan. That will wipe out all of Paul’s fast growing cells that still remain after the first chemo (Cytoxan) and the second chemo (BCNU). The fast growing cells that are being targeted are all of Paul’s stem cells, although it will also wipe out all his remaining hair cells and all the cells lining his digestive track from top to bottom. To prevent or lessen mouth sores – one of the most common side-effects of melphalan -- Paul had to chew and swish crushed ice for an hour and a half. We hope it works. After the infusion, the ice chewing and a renewed hydration bag , we came back to the apartment where we are now crashing. And, it’s our 37th anniversary! Well, we have each other and that’s what counts.

Tuesday December 12 is Paul's transplant day. They call it "Day Zero."

Quercus lobata (Valley Oak), Morgan Territory, CA