Saturday, August 19, 2023

Teddy says "hey"

Doing well, mostly. 

Been feeling like 40 miles of bad road since about Wednesday or Tuesday. I’m operating on, like, two cylinders. When that happens, I start to get depressed. It's a physiological thing.

Went to lunch with a friend on Thursday, but that was all I could manage. 

Visited with my oncologist, Dr. N, yesterday morning. The blood test (CBC) showed that my platelets plummeted again: down to 30! Plus my blood cell and hemoglobin numbers were way low. (Hgb 9.3.) 

I sat there with my CBC printout, waiting for N, wondering: when do one’s struggles to stay alive become unseemly? 

I half expected Dr. N to come in and say, “You’ve had a good run, old boy. Time to just go off into a corner and die.” 

Turns out such thoughts were premature. N came in and said: “That’s why you feel lousy and tired. It’s the chemo and the anemia. You’re doing all right.” 

Is it time for a transfusion? Not yet. Not until my platelets are down to 20 or so.

So I got a red blood cell booster shot, was told to return on Tuesday, and then got spun out the door into the bracing Newport Beach air. 

I do feel better this fine morning. That's the booster talkin'.

Teddy says "hey."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was a student of yours at IVC in a Philosophy 101 type of class a few years ago. I enjoyed it very much and have been applying the critical thinking skills I acquired in every aspect of life. People think I do it to annoy them but I only aim to provoke thought. Sometimes it works, though most of the time it doesn’t. Thank you for a great experience. I wish you a speedy and complete recovery.

Roy Bauer said...

Thanks much, 12:06, and I'm glad you found my class valuable. Good luck!

Roy's obituary in LA Times and Register: "we were lucky to have you while we did"

  This ran in the Sunday December 24, 2023 edition of the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register : July 14, 1955 - November 20, 2...