Cornell, part deux…

Today was Chakotay’s appointment having been on the meds for a week.  We haven’t seen any real changes – he is eating, drinking, pooping, acting normally, but his lymph nodes are still very swollen.

Last night, I set my alarm to get up early to go for a run since I knew we would be in the car all day.  As you guys know, I am NOT a morning person, and I particularly don’t exercise in the morning.

So when I woke up and had to pee about 30 minutes before my alarm was set, Fat Jen immediately started in with a litany of excuses of why I should continue to sleep and that running in the morning is impossible.  But Thin Jen prevailed and we got up when the clock still had a 5  as the first number.  Really?  JEN does NOT get up at that time and CERTAINLY does not start running shortly afterwards.

I have to say, though, it was somewhat peaceful getting out and running in the early morning.  It was very quiet, with little traffic.  AND when I got back, there was this accomplishment knowing that I had gotten some exercise in.  I wish I could say that I will make this a habit, but I doubt it…

We then began the long drive down to Cornell.  I “made” Marc drive and since I hate wasting time, I brought along a long ago abandoned crochet project and worked on it.

 

 

 

 

 

We finally arrived at the hospital and were taken in by a student to get an update.  She then took Chakotay into the back to do a bunch of tests.  Every time I see someone else take his leash and walk away with him behind those swinging doors, my heart breaks a little.

When he was done and finally brought out, Dr. Hume was there, and there was good news and bad news (my words, not hers).  First she told us that the lymph nodes had actually gotten bigger – by about 10%.  That is not good, although measuring them is far from precise, and she didn’t seem overly concerned.  The bright side is that all of his bloodwork came back normal.  Red blood cells, white blood cells, etc.  The biggest concern with this regimen is liver damage, and those results take a bit longer, she told us.  We could either wait to find out the results, or start home and she would call us.  Given that he had no symptoms of liver damage, she was comfortable letting us leave.

So we headed home.  It was 88 degrees and very humid and my poor boy had had a stressful day. 

The call came as we were driving, and the liver tests came back perfectly normal.  So we will continue to give the meds and keep hoping for that miracle.

We had talked about stopping for a walk, but it was clearly too hot for him for that.  So I suggested that we stop at a gorge that was only a few miles off our route that Marc had been wanting to see.

We got there, and both dogs happily dashed down an extremely steep hill and dove into the large pool of cold water that collects at the bottom after the water runs down the cliff.  Can you tell how absolutely overjoyed Chakotay is to be in the fresh water?

 

 

 

 

 

Archer, of course, was more interested in playing.

I know some of you out there are probably excellent travelers.  But I am NOT and this was an exhausting day, which we have to repeat for the next 3 weeks.

Heading home, I told Marc to stop at the grocery store to get dinner.  He was a little annoyed, just wanting to get home, and the temptation to get home and order pizza or to have him make pancakes was definitely in my mind.  But I am trying SO HARD to get back on track, and wanted to make the healthy choice.

So instead we stopped, and came home with a ton of veggies to sauté and boneless pork ribs to be cooked on the grill.

I am really trying, guys, but I have a long way to go.

Oh, and I did get one strip of the afghan done!