Full House

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Karen's bloodwork looked good today, still low in the expected places but improving. No major side effects so everything is going as good as good can be right now.

It seems like every other two-week treatment is full. It must be the people on the three week schedules intersecting with the people on the two week schedules.

On the slower weeks, the nurses have more time to interact. Last week, one of them dubbed me the "full nerd package" (engineer, software designer, writer) after one of her colleagues ratted me out for expressing interest in their computer program. But they were more than interested in sharing the details of their system with us. This week, they gossiped and joked between tasks. They chased alarms indicating completed treatments that became duels of sound like the sing-song of a British ambulance siren.

We wave and nod to people we've seen there before. Mostly, people keep to themselves. Reading or napping, doing crossword puzzles or crocheting (Karen is not the only one), they make the best of their time and situation. In the quiet between low conversations, the infuser sounds like a busy colony of bees bordering on anger.

As always, the concierge at the building entry made an effort to say hello and goodbye to us. A few weeks ago, she pulled Karen aside on our way out to give her a flowering bromeliad with some words of encouragement. We planted it this past weekend, along with the other plants people have given her.

6 down, 2 to go.

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