Just an ordinary day in Gotham city

All quiet in Room 826 this morning as we check the hospital pipes for steam leaks. Why steam leaks do I hear you ask ? Well if you have been been following the slow decay of the Big Apple, you will know that in addition to 'panhandlers', itinerant musicians, compulsive subway rapper choirs, kamikaze pigeons and spatially challenged newly arrived occidental taxi drivers, the New York commuter now has to be alert for geysers erupting from the sidewalk and covering passers-by with a excoriating mixture of scalding steam, red mud and asbestos dust ! Sleeping comfortably across from Beverley until Tom returns next Monday, Miki is safe from all these terrors. I on the other hand have to venture forth each evening lugging giant bags of laundry to tread the perilous path to Brooklyn. Actually by carrying the bags on my head I discovered that I am protected against all of these terrors: avaricious pleading amateur musicians think me one of them but with my accordion on my head; by slightly opening the bag and inserting my head, I muffle rapper concerts on the subway without causing offense to the chorus because I am judged to be mentally challenged; the pavement march of the bright blue IKEA bag sprouting giant ear-like handles and trailing the odd pyjama leg scares the ordure out of the pigeons but apparently not aimed at me and finally when the linguistically challenged taxi driver hesitates to venture across the Brooklyn bridge after dark, I threaten to butt him with the blue laundry monster !

Ah do I hear you ask how is the patient ? Sleeping I am happy to say. For the past three days she has been retaining fluids to some extent -perfectly normal in a proportion of patients. In the face and limbs the extra fluid just causes some swelling but fluid around the lungs makes the patient have to breathe harder to obtain the same intake of oxygen. To deal with this Beverley is now breathing pure oxygen and being infused with the drug Lasix -a diuretic- which will reduce the fluid retention. Unfortunately the fluid doesnt evaporate and the consequence is that Beverley's visits to the bathroom are as frequent as wet days in Cambridge. Another normal consequence of the chemotherapy that patients receive before the donor white cells are given, is the condition known as Mucositis. As we saw after her autologous transplant last August, Beverley seems especially susceptible to this. Chemotherapy is designed to kill all rapidly dividing cells in the body. In aggressive form cancer cells can reproduce every 24 hours, but so do cells lining some internal surfaces of the body such as the mouth, throat and intestinal tract. The chemotherapy therefore also kills these- mucosal cells- hence Mucositis. There is no magic relief, Beverley just has to sit it out until replacement cells recolonise her mouth and throat etc. Meanwhile its very painful, difficult to speak and she cant swallow. So if she doesnt talk on the phone for a few more days please be patient folks . She certainly mumbles about you all constantly, adores the blog comments and exhorts us to "read that again." You all make a difference I promise you.

Finally I am delighted to hear from Lynn in Cambridge that Whit is bravely spearheading a protest movement against all-female book clubs. Its an insidious English discriminatory movement that seeks to deprive men of equal partnership with women. Rest assured that I shall campaign vigorously on this side of the pond to prevent my younger daughter from becoming infected !

The Dad