Friday, March 16, 2007

Richard to HUP #2

Good evening everyone! HUP called today (with some motivation from Richie) to tell him they had a bed available. We took him down this evening, and as soon as we got there, they took us to his room. We got him settled in about 8:00 p.m. Within 10 minutes of our arrival, they were already coming in to check his vitals! They just don't give the poor guy a break.

Unfortunately, Richard is in one of the few shared room on floor 6 of the Rhoads Building. He has a roommate - an 18 year old young man with lymphoma as well. Poor kid. 18 years old...with cancer. He said he's in his senior year of high school. He is very nice and his dad who was there is very nice as well. So, we are just asking that if you would like to come visit, you keep in mind that he is sharing a room. There are only 2 chairs in the room, and not a lot of space for a lot of people to be in the room at once. Also, if you would like to call Richard, he asks that you please call his cell phone rather than the room phone. Richard also does not have a refrigerator in this room, so he won't be able to stash a lot of perishable food. He welcomes meals of real food though. ;) (HUP's hospital food is not very good.) He is not allowed to have processed lunch meat, raw veggies, or raw fruits that do not have a thick skin. (i.e. bananas and oranges are okay...grapes, apples, pears, etc. are not) We are going to try to keep a small cooler in the room and use ice from the machine in the family sitting room to keep a few things cold.

Tonight sometime or tomorrow morning, the doctor is scheduling Rich for a CT scan. They want to take a look at the mass and see how it responded to the first chemo. That will determine if they will give the first type of chemo again or a new drug this time. ....More details on that to follow when we find out tomorrow. The doctor wants to get him started on the chemo tomorrow either way.

I will be heading back down tomorrow late afternoon/evening after work. I will try to fill all of you in as soon as I can! Thanks for your prayers and support! Richard sends his love to all of you!
Love, Daphne

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the update Daphne!! I'm praying you can keep up your good health and strength through this. Trying to work full-time, running to Phila. and being w/ kiddos all day will leave your health vulnerable!! Listen to me...don't I sound like "such the mother" (ok - 7 kids will do that to you :) "Richie" (still getting use to calling you that) - maybe being in a room w/ someone who can "so relate" to what you're going through will be a good thing? Senior year and cancer....that's a tough pill! Continuing to remind you that we're praying for you. At this morning's devotions, it was "Kurt boy" who prayed that "the cancer will ALL get out of his body" :)!! Good wording, huh? Know each and every day you are LOVED!!!
Kim Zim