Winter Wonderland:

You know, the oncology floor in the hospital is not always the happiest floor in the hospital. Having said that, we did manage to leave them laughing the other day. It seems that stuff just happens to us a lot – not stuff we intend – just things that occur by accident. The best thing that happened to us in my short stay was that my daughter, Emily, accidentally dropped a large jar of cornstarch in the bathroom.

When it hit the floor, it exploded upward, coating the walls, floor and every surface. It was breathtakingly awful and after it happened, we just stood there and stared at each other in horror. If you are a “clean nut”, which both Emily and I are, it was beyond shocking! It was kind of like blowing up an egg in the microwave. I don’t know if any of you have ever done that, but my mother did it once and it was so awful she just wanted to throw the microwave away! Anyway, we did not know what to do. We were still standing there, slack-jawed, when one of the nurses walked in.

She was also stunned at first; cornstarch is the consistency of baby powder and it sticks to everything.Then she started laughing, which set us off, also. She said it looked like a winter wonderland and said it was great of us to bring the snow with us as a decoration. She told all the other nurses, who also loved it, and kept trailing in to look at it like it was a holiday light display. I was afraid the cleaning crew would quit on the spot when they saw it, but the nurses assured us that they had cleaned up much worse so not to worry. You just never know when or where you will find the Christmas spirit popping up!

Love,

Susan

UPDATE:

Sorry for the silence, folks.    The Holiday went pretty well and my mother was in good spirits.  Unfortunately, this morning, she woke up with a high fever and had to go to the hospital where she’ll likely be for a day or two.  They’re checking her counts and everything, but it seems like they’re a bit down.  She’ll post an update as she’s able, or we’ll keep you updated here.

UPDATE SUNDAY NIGHT:

Her white blood cell count was very, very low.  They think there’s an infection at play here but it takes a day or more to get all those tests in.  She’s a bit down about it but is quite strong about it all.  Says she’ll update personally soon. Thanks for all the email, calls, and support.