Pat of the Hat Blog: The best laid plans...

Hi readers - well, I got some disappointing news today. Not bad with a capital B (which rhymes with P which stands for Pool) Not 'River City' trouble, mind you, but still...

The Doc (Dr. Cirrenza) called this morning to inform me that the chemo port-a-pump which we'd planned to use to keep me out and about during these upcoming rounds of chemo is not going to materialize. As I understand it, there is an incompatibility between the drugs which were to be used in the pump, as well as a time and stability issue with one of the drugs. The upshot of this is that my short 5-hour stopover in the hospital on Friday will be turned into an expenses-paid 5-day vacation in the cancer ward on the seventh floor of the Martha Jefferson Hospital. Needless to say, this took the wind from my sails - today was not a such good day. I'm fairly certain that my comrades at work believe I've contracted Tourette's in addition to the cancer. I'm also pretty positive that my expression was angst ridden - for most of the day.

I am not a fan of being in the hospital. To my mind, it's not a place that makes people feel good about recovery - instead it reassures them that they are, indeed, very sick, and will remain that way until otherwise told by their doctor. The lack of exercise and new input from the world is my other issue. As I've said before, I'm a creature of the outdoors and I can't abide long stays inside. But it's going to be ok. I'm in one of the best hospital systems in the country and am being treated by a great set of docs and nurses. As problems go, mine are that of a man at the 5.99 all-you-can-eat buffet who can't find the fresh kung pao chicken. I'll get through this one ok.

So I'll divert myself. I'll have Jane's computer (which has Half-Life 2 and Hitman 2), my computer from work (which doesn't), and scads of reading material. I think the only deficiency in this equation is my lack of exercise/outdoor time. I guess we'll see. Don't worry friends, you'll get to read about it all.

Thanks again for everyone who is reading and keeping up. And apologies for my friends who I haven't emailed or called. It's really only a sign of how much support I've been getting. It's a nice problem to have.

Also- lots of thanks to my friends who have volunteered meals and rides for this session. You all are great.

And so, I'm getting verbose, as I promised not to be in my initial post. I leave you with pictures of us our kids and our garden...

Will report more as details become available...

Our shiitake, oyster, and hedgehog mushroom logs...