New "admit"...

When we first arrived in the hospital to start treatment, there were many conversations going on about existing patients, personal lives, treatments, etc., and none that really meant much to us. But the topic which really caught our ear was the term "new admit", which means a new person being admitted for treatment. That was Carla on December 27. On that day, after her biopsy in the morning, we were directed to the nurses station to be admitted. There was Carla's wrist band and binder. Yes, binder.

Once treatment has started and the cloud starts to clear about you and you stop focusing on your situation, you hear so much more. We heard discussion that 3 people arrived over Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Then while out for walks we hear, "we have a new admit coming late tonight". And then there were others.

We ran into a lady whose husband had been admitted that day and very much looked in a state that we could remember, "what are we doing here" look. We remember that day when Sandi reached out to us, and gave us comfort. We reached out to this lady in conversation and she opened up to us about her husband's story. We knew what it meant to be heard, and we listened. She had been talking for 15 mins with her tray of cafeteria dinner in her hands. I walked her to her husband's door and gave her a brief history of Carla and told her that things can get better, and that we were in her situation one week earlier. We have crossed paths twice since, each time exchanging well wishes and hope to each other.

An estimated 43,050 new cases of leukemia will be diagnosed in the US this year, and 12,330 with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. We heard of about 10 people coming into the hospital since we arrived. By the way, there are about 311,000,000 people in the US.

Status: Carla had her first blood infusion today, going back tomorrow for more blood and platelets. Besides being there a long time, the process went smooth, no reactions. Carla felt so good today that I let her do the dishes. Actually, she bullied her way into the dishes. :) Amazing what a unit of blood can do. Give her 3 units, my Honda needs a wash!

Thank you Lisa Petersen and family for dinner. McCall put it in the oven while we were at the hospital and was ready when we got home. We were very thankful to have that dinner. Thank you Susan Garrett for bringing Callie home after jump team. You are terrific.