[Magdalen] Status update

[Jim Guthrie]

From: Susan Hagen
> March.  In preparation, I had a Mediport installed yesterday, eliminating
> the need to stick a needle in a vein each time.  And I got an iPad mini,
> and loaded it up with Kindle books, Netflix, and some music.

The medi-port is really helpful. MSK attaches a bottle to it with 5400 mf
Fluorouracil (226 ml) which pretty much empties by Sunday morning -- and Albert
plays nurse and removes the bottle, shoots in a dose of saline and another
syringe of Heparin to keep it clear and removes the needle from the Mediport.
(He also injects me with the Lovenox every day).

OTOH, the crew at Scranton Regional Hospital seemed to make a mess of the 
Mediport -- the area was all bruised after I was discharged, and the oncology 
treatment nurse asked who had been mangling it.

I really think a key to all this is to stay positive and optimistic. When in the
waiting area at MSK, there are lots of gloomy gusses and sad sacks, while the
staff is absolutely cheery and friendly and optimistic at all times -- more
cheerful than a crew at Disneyland (and you didn’t think that was possible!
<g>). And I realize that some have been through a lot, and many have a negative
prognosis, but I think one needs to guard against negativity.

I can appreciate the laying in of a well-stocked Kindle, though I remain
something of a Luddite -- bringing a stack of reading material (including the
newspapers and book reviews and NY Times magazines I haven’t gotten to), plus a
book -- so I keep busy in the waiting room, during chemo and on the 2 hour 45
minute bus trip back and forth to NYC. We usually have breakfast with friends or
former co-workers; last night we went to a Railway and Locomotive Historical
Society meeting after treatment for an interesting program on new post-Sandy
pump trains built for the NYC Subway system. We left Scranton on the 7:20 AM
bus, and were home by Midnight. The trip home goes much faster if I'm tired
enough to fall asleep once the road smoothes out  around the Oranges.

Best of luck with the chemo, Eleanor.

Cheers,
Jim Guthrie



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