From: Dina Venezky
Date: Tue Oct 22, 2002 08:37:37 US/Pacific
Subject: Update 2 – Day 12
Hi Everyone,
Just wanted to let you know how Dad is doing but before I talk about what’s going on now I’d like to mention my conversation on Friday. When I called Friday morning Dad was having students drop papers off at the hospital. He had had a 2 hour phone meeting with someone he convinced to work on a new grant (a large grant for adult literacy). He sounded amazing. The first round of chemotherapy was ending and he was going to have a full week to recover.
On Friday afternoon the effects of the chemo became harder to deal with. Dad ran a fever of 104 all weekend. When I spoke with the nurse yesterday the fever was down to about 101-102 and they were trying to find the source of the infection. Mom and Elie were with him all weekend and Mom continues to be there. We are all hoping that the fever continues to decrease and that the chemo was completely effective. This Friday, the doctors will test Dad’s bone marrow again to see if the chemo was effective. If the chemo didn’t do what it needed to do (I’m not sure about the specifics so we’re waiting to hear what they find), he will receive another round of chemo right away.
It’s hard to imagine Dad in the hospital and the whole experience continues to be a shock. If you have a chance, please send a card/letter/picture to the house in Delaware. Dad can not talk on the phone right now and but I truly believe that hearing from everyone helps. I think hearing stories and taking his mind off of what he’s going through is helpful. Someone brought him a coloring book and he was having people color pages for him (last week) when they came to visit. He was also coloring. If you have time, it would be great to add to his collection or send other similar activities. We are also trying to find things for him to eat (he hasn’t had much to eat since the fever). Of course, the best thing right now is to just think positive thoughts.
We love you and thank you VERY much for your support.
Take care,
Dina
Recap of food restrictions, in case you’re interested.
No fresh fruit or vegetables (everything needs to be cooked)
No peppercorns (they contain spores…)
Here’s the hard one for me…No tasting the food while cooking without washing the spoon (I like to pretend that when I make cookies I don’t eat a lot of the batter but the reality is that I do)