Next Stop, The Penthouse!

The Robert H. Loooooorie Comprehensive Cancer Center is on the top (21st) Floor of the Galter Pavilion at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.  The hospital is split into two towers, Galter and Feinberg.  Lovely (large!) painted pictures of The Galters and The Feinbergs grace the lobby areas of both, and I am prone to wonder..."geez, how much were you people worth that you gave THIS MUCH DAMN MONEY to Northwestern to get naming rights?!"  Seriously, we are talking large coinage here, people.  I also wonder, as a genetically engineered salesperson, how that sale got pitched and closed.  I then usually inhale, breathe a sigh of contentedness, exhale slowly, and proceed with my smug feeling that this medical facility is better than any other in Chicago, and for the most part, anywhere in the world.  LIKE I want to go to Houston?  ick.

Lurie Waiting Room~West

Lurie Waiting Room~North

Steve had a clinic appointment today, and this was truly a day of phenomenally good karma.  Left the house later than planned, got there on time.  NO backup to make the left turn from Fairbanks onto Huron (no CTA #3 King Drive bus raging toward me, nor 3 or more stop light cycles).  Pulled into the parking garage, got a SWEET spot on 2 (pedway level to the hospital) during peak parking times.  A gift from the gods, NO ONE got into our elevator.....mind you...when Steve was SO, SO sick, we would have coughing, oozing, gross people wedge their bodies in the elevator car.  Sometimes Steve held his breath.  Sometimes he wore a mask.  Today we were like urban cowboys, wooooooooo, express to 21, ride that germ-free pony!  He was called into the lab for his draw quickly, then called into Oncology for his appointment FIVE MINUTES EARLY!  That would be versus one to two hours late.  Often.  The waiting room felt empty, and that was nice!

Today:  It's all good.  Both our APN, Donna G. (who admitted to Green Bay Packer family lineage today) and Dr. Altman were THRILLED with Steve's looks, labs, and progress.  He gained almost 12 pounds in 3 weeks.  His face is filling out, and he is wearing clothes other than his "sick clothes" which were reminding me of old people/nursing home something-spilled-on-the-front-stinky-oily-cheesy-guy stuff.  Vitals are awesome, and we are grateful.  

There have been very wide swings in lab results for many months.  We can have home health (ACL/Christ) give us one number, Lurie (21-Galter onsite) another, and NW Hospital Labs yet another.  So Monday's WBCs (ACL) were 2.9 with ANC of 1.9.  Today at Lurie he was 0.9 with ANCs of 0.4?  Seriously?  That is just jacked up.  So Altman plays her cards as she feels them, and we feel the ACL numbers were correct from Monday.  Spleen measures the same 8-9cms.  Check out Steve's binder that gets hauled from appointment to appointment. -->  America, you've *got* to support electronic medical records, PLEASE!

Altman is backing down on Steve's Tacrolimus to ONCE daily (0.2ml) instead of x2 , and we will monitor for any GvHD symptoms as he gratefully and hopefully ends his anti-rejection medication.  Dr. Altman is complimenting that with a bump to daily of Steve's Neupogen, or "G," which sounds so hip, injections.  We have 3 syringes left, and our refill is $10,000 retail.  I wish I could tell you that was made up.  Tonight I gave him a shot that really hurt him, and it made me feel so badly.  I hate giving the shots, and tomorrow I will ask our home health nurse for some tips.

One of the many things I wanted to do with Steve, after our trying times, was to have some "pub grub" at Timothy's O'Toole's Bar & Restaurant which is a block south of the hospital.  My sister rescued me from Prentice one day for a so-needed break and I knew Steve would love the joint.  Today we got to do just that, and he ate like a pig.  Best part?  On the way back to the parking garage we ran into one of his Prentice Oncology nurses, and we had a chemo homecoming on the sidewalk!  It's an absolutely amazing experience to catch up with someone who was (and IS!) dedicated to your health and life, and just chat up the forward moving vibe.

The Green Bay Packers last went to the Super Bowl in 1997.  I was pregnant with our son, Kevin, at the time.  He was born on June 11, same birthday as Vince Lombardi.  It is Steve's destiny to live to see the Packers play for the Super Bowl again.   Enjoy Steve's moment of dream bliss at Lambeau Field in the dang Club Seats.....