Day 63, Year 7: Mark Gets the A-Okay
Date: Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Weather: Dusting of Snow Overnight; Daytime Mostly Sunny
Location: Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
Mark met with his surgeon and her team late this afternoon and was told that
he could actually go home tonight. It was late in the day and he said he
preferred to spend the night and go in the morning. That was fine, so by 10
am tomorrow morning we’ll be leaving the hospital. I think Mark just wanted
to stay the night so he could watch the New Hampshire Republican Primary
results on TV tonight, but he denies that! We will go to Sue and John
Reed’s when we leave here and spend tomorrow and tomorrow night there before
heading home to Windbird on Thursday morning. Mark got his first “soft
food” this morning, white bread toast and grape jelly, and he thought it was
the best tasting thing he had ever had. Poor guy hasn’t had real food since
last Wednesday. He had toast again for lunch and then again for dinner, so
by tomorrow we can start to have other soft foods. Sue and I have planned a
dinner of broiled flounder, mashed potatoes, and a salad of avocado. He
shouldn’t have dairy, except for yogurt, for a few more days, so Sue bought
Earth Balance non-dairy butter and will slather that over the fish and
potatoes. I think Mark will think he had died and gone to heaven. Dr.
Sylla thinks he can resume a fairly normal diet by the end of the week, but
we’ll move slowly until we are sure everything is working normally. Dr.
Sylla also thinks she should have results from the biopsy of the lymph nodes
for us by Friday of this week, and she is still saying that if there is no
cancer in those nodes that Mark’s will not have to undergo chemotherapy. So
we will just have to wait patiently and hope for super positive results.
My niece, Candi, who lives just north of Boston in Billerica, came to visit
today and she brought beautiful yellow tulips that have brightened the room.
She had a nice visit with Mark and then she and I went down to the cafeteria
for lunch. We caught up on family gossip and just generally had a great
time. So thanks, Candi, for coming by.
So now it’s time for me to head out and for Mark to watch the NH Primary
results. I’ll be back in the morning and we’ll be out of here. I have to
say that I’ll miss these beautiful views of Boston. Getting this room was
certainly a stroke of luck, and that along with Mark’s great progress has
made this dreaded hospital stay absolutely delightful.
