Much to my father’s chagrin, the hair loss continues.  He can’t quite bring himself to shave it off yet.  We haven’t actually seen what it looks like though, because he won’t take his hat off now.  Other than that, everything is going fairly well according to Kim.  Who is Kim you ask?  She is the VERY pregnant RN that is treating my dad today.  I’ve enjoyed getting to know the nurses.  There’s Michelle, who is the most experienced and doesn’t take any crap from anyone.  Then there’s Ben, whose wife just had twins a few weeks ago and so is tired all the time.  And there’s Kara, who always does this odd grimace when she gives my dad a shot, like it’s causing her pain also.  I’m not sure what that’s about.

He has been having some bad fever’s a night for the last few days, but they finally figured out that it was a reaction to one of the antibiotics he was on, so they stopped that this morning.  He’s appetite is pretty good.  He has actually gained a pound since he went in.  The fact that he can eat like 3 chocolate milkshakes a day and only gain one pound doesn’t seem just, does it?  I’m pretty sure I would have ballooned to the size of a beluga whale if I did the same thing. 

They still aren’t sure when he can come home, but everything is looking good.  The criteria for him to be eligible for discharge is that his (insert long medical term that I can’t remember here) levels have to be up to 500.  As part of the process, they have to hit zero and then go back up.  They were at zero on Thursday and by today they were already at 100, so hopefully near the end of the week he’ll be good to go.  Also his (insert two other medical terms I forget here) levels are also going up without them even giving him the growth shots they usually do, so everyone is very happy about that.

A glowing and cordial thank you to Jeff and Cheryl, and Dave and Brenda for your cleaning/gardening proficiency and helpfulness.  You guys are the best.  Even Dave, despite his cheekiness.