Early Parole Begins Today

Well, it looks like I’ll be getting out today on “good behavior”, starting sometime I guess about 3:00pm. That’s a little later than I had hoped, but earlier than it could have been. Hopefully all will go smoothly with the discharge papers and the “parole board” so that I can get home at a good time today.

All things considered, this round has gone fairly smoothly. I had some minor discomfort with the nausea, but nothing too bad. As usual, Holly brought me lunch every day, which I am quite certain helped a ton. Avoidance of prison food is a must for survival under these conditions. And Holly (as you might have guessed) has built up quite a reputation here with the prison staff here, exchanging exquisite baked goods for leniency and special favors. Several workers are already hooked on her 7-layer bars , and her irresistible banana nut bread is getting smuggled in today. (My apologies to the nurses on this floor for the prison analogy – the nurses here are all just wonderful!)

Tomorrow afternoon I head back down here briefly for my Neulasta shot. And hopefully during this upcoming week, I will not experience any neutropenia (low white blood cell counts) that would land me back in the hospital again. I’m just not sure we can handle any more unscheduled hospital visits. Trust me, it’s bad enough just being in “jail” for the chemo, but it’s always far worse when you’re here for an unscheduled stay and you feel like you’re on “death row”. That’s definitely a sentence I’d like to avoid!