Since Thursday Florian has started 15 days of intense chemo: injections and meds every day. Because he didn't have chemo for the past three weeks, he was feeling pretty well. He had found some energy (everything is relative) and his typical sense of humor.
He was feeling so well last week end that he wanted to take a ride in his car that he hadn't touched since last April. While getting in the car he got attacked by hornets that has made a small hive in his mirror. He got stung 3 times and tried to run away, unfortunately he fell down ( he is still pretty weak). He hurt his finger and knee but nothing is broken thankfully.
I have to admit that we had a good time at the hospital on Thursday. Florian receives his treatment in a double room (two couches). This time he was very happy to meet his roommate during the infusions, it wasn't hard to start a conversation. We therefore met Dave the construction worker, not to confuse with Joe the plumber. They didn't stop talking the whole time. He is 43 and also has leukemia, another type than Florian's, but he was diagnosed at the same time. Of course Florian had to ask the nurses the details on the type of leukemia Dave had. He wanted to understand both treatments.
The discussion was so entertaining that I have to tell other people about the subject of discussion of Dave the construction worker. Here are a few examples:
Dave was glad to have received the papers of his divorce because he wife wanted to live in a bourgeois area and he spent all his time taking care of his house: vacuuming the pool, taking care of the garden cleaning inside,.... He now lives in his own small house that isn't as expansive and not in a "chique" neighborhood.
It's only after that we found out why his house may have been cheap, according to him he got his leukemia because he works in construction ( a lot of bad stuff) and because his house is near a chemical plant that often leaks bad odors and chemicals. He was very happy to say that there was multiple other people in his street that also had leukemia. Another side note: the guy across his street died a few months ago, but "who cares"'.
Still according to him the time it would take to take them to court would take at least 15 years and there will be at least 40 other people already dead so why bother and worry. It's easier and cheaper to sell your house and move.
He also has a interesting theory on cancer research, according to him it would be a terrible economic loss if they found a cure for cancer.This would be a great loss for pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and doctors, a whole market would disappear. Once again, a lot to debate.
Overall Florian was happy to be able to talk with him.
As usual we laugh a lot with the nurses. Paul (the nurse who also had cancer) had told us to go to a special restaurant for lunch which everyone said was good. So we ended up going to Palmers ( a meat and fish vendor). The menu was interesting, and the choice was difficult for Florian. He ended up going for a Philly cheesteak (according to him the best were in NYC). The sandwich was pretty big but he wasn't really impressed by the taste which wasn't as good as the ones he'd previously had. So here we are back Strong at 2:30 exactly right on time for the rest of his treatment. Of course Paul came in and asked about his thoughts on Palmers. Florian, very straight forward as usual, told him that he wasn't that impressed by the place. Of course we didn't follow the waitresses' advice who told us to go for a burger. Paul was devastated by the news, within 5 minutes everyone on the floor knew. I tried to make him feel better by telling him that my sandwich was very good. Of course I bought steak ( this time following the advice of the butcher) and I have to admit it was delicious. Raphael almost managed to eat all of it. Once more, lucky for us we don't live in Rochester or near a big city, I would spend a fortune of food.
The second roommate Florian had was not as friendly as the first, an old man reading a financial journal. We still laughed because florian finally understood what a "clean catch" is when they have to do a urine analysis. The nurse explained to the old man the procedure and after 3 minutes Florian said "Ahh that's how you are supposed to do. The old guy barely laughed but the nurse, Rohna, (comes from L'ile St Vincent, yes they tell us everything about their lives) laughed quite a lot, we won't go into details about exactly what it is. We'll let Florian explain at his discretion.
Raphael is home for now, Jacques and the 2 little ones are in France with the Golliers so the house is a bit calm.
Florian has lost his appetite again which he was finally finding back. He was very proud (Rohna was as well) because he had gained 4kg in 1 week. Since Thursday he has been feeling a bit nauseous. And to say the the insurance does not want to totally cover the meds against nausea because they believe they are not needed. We have been fighting for the past 3 weeks to try to be able to get them. Maybe Dave the construction worker was right, cancer is good for the economy....
We will go back next Thursday as usual, meanwhile we continue chemo by meds and injections. We will see how things turn out.
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