Day +81

I am fine today. Now back to my experiences in UH again.

I started my second chemotherapy in UH on the 9, January 2005. The protocol for this cycle of chemotherapy was the same as the first chemotherapy. It is called “3+7” regime. I could remember while the housemanship doctor injected the first dose of chemo drug through my PICC line at 6:00pm that day, he told me he really didn’t know what my feeling was. I could not answer him because this feeling was difficult to explain. What I had in my mind is to trust God completely and determined to face another round of challenge.

The environment in UH was very different from NMSC. Most of the patients here stayed in open space, separated by a few opened cubicles. A few patients were placed in each cubicle. There was no way to control the visitors. So I put on mask most of the time to protect myself, even though some nurses advised me it was not necessary to do that.

The first thing I did was to introduce myself to every patient in the cubicle. I must say that they were the most cheerful and positive patients I ever met throughout my stay in UH. A few of them can be considered world class “开心果” (jokers) who always created laughter, made fun of the nurses, the doctors and other patients. But of course, no one can be cheerful all the time. When one was having fever and chill, he/she always trembling under a few layer of blankets with his/her long “苦瓜脸” (Bitter Gourd face – Is this the right translation?), but once he recovered from the fever, the fun began again. Since we had a few of them, so the fun never stopped. May be this is “苦中作乐” (tries to find pleasure amidst suffering), but I think “苦中作乐” is a lot better than “怨天尤人” (blames everyone). Some nurses also joined the crowd to create a very friendly and relaxing environment.

So although my family members did not manage to accompany me all the time, the life there was not boring at all. In fact, I could handle myself most of the time if I was not having fever. Sometime Pastor and my brother, Richard, came to stay overnight with me.

See you next post :-)