This is Maureen letting Bob’s friends and family know he went back into the hospital tonight. He is extremely weak and had a low-grade fever. They put him on IV fluids, Tylenol, and antibiotics in the emergency room and his fever dropped before he was moved upstairs. He will stay in the hospital until his WBC is back to normal, and possibly until he’s strong enough for round 3. Thank you all for your support and wishes. He’ll be back in his journal as soon as he starts to bounce back a bit. He has his cell phone with him. We wish you all a Happy New Year.

Love, Maureen, Bob, and Miranda

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12/30/05

Still at a low point, but the saline and platelet infusions did me some good. I can now make short trips to the bathroom and around the room without losing breath. I have odd muscle pains in my upper right wrist. The great thing today is that I can breathe with my mouth closed, although keeping it closed requires conscious effort. The paralysis in the lower lip, although not painful, is very inconveneient. I spent a lot of time last night in bed awake: not doing anything or thinking of much; just breathing.

From my sick bed I see the top of a bare tree over the top of the blinds. Maybe I’ll spend some time downstairs later today. The view is more interesting.

[later]

Not doing well at all. Mo checked my temperature and it was 100.7 F. Called Sloan and he said to monitor for an hour. 45 minutes later my heart started racing so I rechecked my temperature; 101.3 F. Off to the hospital to be readmitted.

[later]

In the hospital and it’s clear that I’m quite a mess. Blood pressure is very low 80/45. Shivering at times.

[later]

Now, after a night of multiple infusions, including two units of blood, I feel the best I’ve felt for many days. I’ll be laid up here until my counts come back up, then they’ll start the Codox as outpatient.