Both Dad & I went to see his cancer doctor this morning. We discussed the issue of him being very tired and pain in the stomach area. They took three different blood samples. His white blood cell is ok, the red blood cell is also fine, but the neutrophil count is down. It needs to be up before they will give him chemo, so he needs to go in again Thursday. We also discussed the possibility of coming down at Easter, but she advised against it, as that is when his neutrophil count would be the lowest. There is a 20% chance that Dad can get an infection with a fever. He then has hours to get to the hospital, and when there, we need to tell him about his neutrophil count, which would bump him to the front of the line. If his neutrophil count is too low this Thursday, they will wait till next week to give him his chemo. If that is the case, we can come down.

Dad has been feeling great until Wednesday when he overdid it. He got a call at work about a house four blocks from work that he needed to take a look at, and since it was such a nice day, he decided to walk. When he got there, it wasn’t a house under his program, and he had to turn around and walk back again. Later that afternoon, he came home exhausted. Since then, he has not got his level of energy back. Dad feels it’s because he is not getting enough exercise, and thinks parking the car further away will help. This morning Dad was up at 7:30, dressed and ready to go for a walk around the block. I convinced him to wait for the sun to take the frost off the road first, giving me time to go with him. It was a pleasant walk with the sun shining and people getting ready to go about their activities. It was just a short walk, but when we got home, Dad had to sit while I got breakfast ready. We just finished listening to the Vinyl Café, and Dad is laying down again. I’m also concerned with his lack of appetite and his lack of wanting to do things. We got him a MP4 Player, but it is still sitting there, untouched. That is so not like Dad.