[Magdalen] Status update

[Ginga Wilder]

Eleanor,
You are ever in my prayers.  Thanks for the update, brave woman.

Love,
Ginga

On Sat, Nov 15, 2014 at 8:10 PM, Marion Thompson <marionwhitevale at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Good luck to you with this, Jim.  Glad to hear you sounding so 'up'.
>
> Marion, a pilgrim
>
> On 11/15/2014 5:45 PM, Jim Guthrie wrote:
>
>> 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
>>
>>
>>
>> .
>> .
>>
>>
>