Strange Dreams and Fried Chicken

July 7th, 2018 – 8:45am

Good morning,

I woke up this morning around 6am after a decent sleep (only up every 4 hours for vitals), feeling pretty good about myself and the world around me. For comedic relief, some of you may be amused to know that there’s probably something in either my IV drip or anti-nausea meds that triggers some pretty bizarre dreams, especially surrounding celebrity figures. Last night, between 12-4am, I dreamed that I was sitting in as a guest on a late-night TV satire show called “Vague”, modeled similarly to SNL. To my horror, my co-star started babbling on about how Meryl Streep never gave a straight answer to any question, and I started hearing a scratching sound come from what I thought was my co-star’s lapel mic. Actually, it was the sound of my nurse, fiddling with the blood pressure cuff to take my vitals, which promptly brought an end to my dream. In another medication-addled episode, I recently found myself in charge of twenty-five grade 2’s on a field trip to what seemed to be Windsor Castle in England. Somehow, I managed to lose all of my kids, and spent much of my dream looking for them, getting chewed out by George Clooney (the school principal), and fighting the language barrier with a couple giggling Korean students on whether or not they had seen my class. Maybe I’ve just been hearing too many stories from Lauren and her teacher-friends lately.

On recent updates, we received some excellent news earlier this week that all genetic markers so far from the tests that have been run have come back normal, and I’ve tested negative for something called FLT-3 genetic mutations, which is not something you want to have if you’re an AML patient (positive testing means you are immediately in need of a bone-marrow/stem cell transplant, which extends my time here by at least 6 months). We are praising God for these positive reports, as well as the fact that my latest lumbar puncture showed no signs of any Leukemia in my cerebral spinal fluid (CSF), which is a very good sign.

Unfortunately, it’s been a bit of a rough week for nausea, headaches, and other maladies of a similar nature. While I am now no longer on a 24-hour chemo drip, there is a fair bit of chemo still rumbling around inside of me, doing it’s job and destroying my bone marrow, and the side-effects of that include difficulties keeping food down and extreme fatigue at times. Likewise, the last lumbar puncture I had set off a course of pretty nasty headaches, which took a couple days to calm down, along with some pretty strong pain meds. On the other hand, I can now say that I have tried morphine, and unfortunately it’s not everything it’s cracked up to be. I won’t go into all the details of my various ailments and symptoms right now, except to say that they are not exactly pleasant, and I hope they go away soon. The last 12 hours seem to have been an improvement, which I definitely hope continues.

Interestingly enough, while I’ve been having a bit of a hard time keeping meals down over the last few days, we have found a  few foods that  I can stomach, and apparently with gusto. Strangest of these, who would have guessed that greasy fried chicken would work on a nauseous stomach? If you’ve spent much time in Calgary, you are probably familiar with a local joint called “Chicken on the Way”, known for it’s crispy fried chicken, corn fritters, and gravy-covered fresh-cut fries. It happens to be a guilty favorite of mine, and I rarely make a trip to Calgary without stopping by. So thank-you to my mum for making a run-out yesterday, as it apparently cured my appetite problems, at least temporarily. Just don’t tell my nurses – they might not agree on it being the best solution!

One of the hardest parts of this journey has got to be the separation from my wife that inevitably comes from me living in a hospital room and her staying with my mum, albeit fairly close by. While she has been faithfully by my side every day I have been here, the nights are a little lonely, especially when you grow used to years of falling asleep with the person you love, and waking up with them in your arms. This part is tough on the both of us, but we know it is not forever, and we will be reunited soon enough, once I am granted out-patient status. Yesterday, I was blessed with the chance to get out of the hospital for a few hours in the afternoon, and we were able to steal a nap together at my mum’s house for a little bit. The simple act of holding each other close and sharing that tender affection we both deeply miss was enough for the moment, although it reminded me of being one more thing we used to take for granted, which has now become more difficult. So husbands and wives, if you are reading this, take my advice and treasure one another, showing affection frequently, and letting each other know how much the other means to you – because as I quickly found out, you never know when things you used to take for granted will no longer be there.

From the view out my hospital window, I face west, overlooking the back side of Foothills Hospital, where I can see the lush Bow River Valley and the ski jumps of Canada Olympic Park in the distance, and the hazy Rocky Mountains on the far horizon. The weather looks like another gorgeous July day, with the forecast high of 25C, which is just about perfect. We are expecting Lauren’s family to come down for a visit from Red Deer today, and now that I am in recovery phase, I have been cleared to go out on some afternoons to get out of the hospital for a bit, which we are hoping to take advantage of today. The plan is to whisk me away from here for a few hours, and maybe get to do something fun for a change. We probably won’t make it to Stampede, but Calgary has plenty to offer. More on this later.

Thanks again for following, and for all the prayers, positivity, and support. Feel free to message me in the comments, or through the contact page on this blog. I can’t guarantee I’ll get back to you quickly, but do know that I appreciate all your messages, and the fact that you are standing with us on this journey.

Blessings,

Mike