Short trip, not so short, but all is well (Habubrat)

Well, we kind of got a bum steer from the doc here that this would be a "short trip". It will be a "shorter trip", but Dave got a full round of 4 days of chemo and felt crappy the day before we were supposed to leave and he just didn't feel up to it. Coupled with the fact that we would need daily labs, growth factor shots, perhaps platelets, potassium, transfusions and so on when we got home. I was working hard on it, but you know, our doctor (a new guy for us), even if he wanted to help us, I'm not so sure he could. You need appointments for everything, even the blood draws, they have to send it out for results, so you don't get it the same day, and then WE never get it. I could give Dave the shots myself, but they are $2K each and word has it, insurance won't pay for it if I do it. Well, I'm not poor, but I am definitely not in a position to eat those costs. So we all decided, Dave, the nurse, the doc, and I, it was a bad idea to go home with all these uncertainties. I told my friend, "It won't kill us to stay, but it might very well kill us to go!" They make it look and seem so routine here, like its nothing, no big deal, but the truth is, its a very big deal! You are mucking around wiping out an person's immune system and right in the middle of flu season, I might add. The fact that "they" make it seem easy and routine, shouldn't be confused with the severity of what you are doing and keeping vigilant on the precautions that need to be taken. Many of the Myeloma patients I've read about, don't die of Myeloma, they die from complications caused by it, infections, pneumonia, etc. So, Dave is doing well, sleeping a lot and we are nestled in for another week and a couple of days. My neighbor has told me to stop worrying about Kip (aka the Kipmeister - a photo finally on my profile page of my handsome guy), and I think he will become an honorary member of their family. My other neighbor has asked for me to keep her posted on when we are coming home and she will go buy some groceries so we have something to eat when we get in. Are we blessed or what? Yesterday as Dave was feeling better and beginning to second guess his decision to stay, the clinic was loading him up on his fluids, his nausea IV drip and then oops his potassium fell so he needed an infuser with potassium to take home with him. He looked at me and said, "What's going on?" As his nurse, Alan, was hooking him up to the infuser and apologizing that we wouldn't be able to give him a night without the port accessed, I said, "Well, you could have gone home yesterday, but you didn't want to, so now you are getting the FULL VIP treatment and you might as well, sit back and let hit happen!" Alan started laughing and said in a wonderful exaggerated southern accent, "That's RIGHT! You might 'as well get the whole deal!" Dave sat back in the recliner and closed his eyes with a big sigh. So I'll scoot out somehow today and pick up some more groceries. The apartment we are in is OK with us staying, the car has been extended and the flights changed. Its a learning experience to be sure. I figure by the time I get it all figured out, we'll be all done!