hello from the Simon Cancer Center :)

Good Morning -
Today I'm writing you from a beautiful room in the Simon Cancer Center. 

As I wrote (and tried to post yesterday) Kurtis is currently checked into the hospital.  He just wasn't doing well yesterday and it was important for him to get some rest, have some pain medicine, and be in a place where he could be monitored.  After he was done with his fluids, we waited for several hours while another patient was discharged and his room was cleaned.  He was then taken from the unit where he goes to get his fluids/stem cells to the Simon Cancer Center.

The SCC is beautiful.  It is new and the different floors are all beautiful.  There are small things that make the place comforting including amazing pictures of nature (trees, flowers, other plants), a nice "family" center with puzzles and places for people to relax a little, and absolutely outstanding rooms.  I've posted some pictures on our flickr feed so that you can see.  There are small things here that make a big difference for cancer patients.  They have the right kind of shampoo (baby - it is gentle) and a fridge in the room.  There is also a tv and dvd player, a couch that turns into a bed, a chair, and electric shades (one is "light filtering" and the other is "blackout") that move up and down and are quite nifty. 

Kurtis' mom spent the night with him last night while I went home to take care of the creature.  We weren't expecting Kurtis to be checking into the hospital, so I brought Chauncey into the city yesterday and we hung out around town while Kurtis was getting his fluids.  When we found out that he was going to be admitted, I took Chauncey home and put him in his crate.  Due to the fact that last time he was left in his crate at the hotel he hurt his nose, I was a little worried about him.  However, when I got home last night, he was okay.  He isn't eating much right now which is both logical and not a problem.  Due to the chemo, his mouth and throat are hurting a LOT and, as you can imagine, eating stuff isn't really very high up on his "to-do" list.  It isn't something to worry about though, as he is getting what he needs from his fluids.  He was feeling good enough to have some toast yesterday after I left, so that's good.

I got up this morning and took Chauncey to Camp Bow Wow.  The first day I took him, I was a little nervous about it - I'm not sure why...since that seems so much nicer than leaving him in his crate all day.  When we drove over today, he knew right where we were going and as I turned onto Raymond, he started bouncing around the car like he was about to win the Milk Bone lottery.  Once I let him out of the car, he pulled as hard as his little fifty-five pound self could pull and jumped up on the counter as soon as we got inside.  If you want to see him, you can go to here.  Click on "camper cams"...he generally is on Camera 3 or Camera 6. 

After dropping the dog off,  I headed to the hospital, picked up Kurtis' mom and took her back to the hotel so that she could eat breakfast, get cleaned up, and have some quiet relaxation time.  I'm hanging out with Kurtis in his room now - watching sportscenter and updating you!  Later today, he will get some platelets since his count is too low, and that should make him feel at least some better since it is an immediate boost in something. 


From this room, you can see out of the window toward the city and the IUPUI campus.  It's nice to be able to watch the cars go by and watch the people who are walking around. 

Hope all is well -

Love,
Liz