And everything turned out fine, and we went home.

Thought I would start with the ending first.

Yesterday I came home from work, and Tom was upstairs sleeping. He had told me that he was going to do radio talks yesterday, so I didn't think anything of it- that he was resting. He paces himself nowadays, and after working for several hours, he will take naps. I had come home a little later than usual, and it was about 8 pm before I decided to go check on him. He told me that he was sick. Well, 'told' sounds so matter-of-fact and conversational. It was more of a raspy murmur under the blankets. "I feel awful." Those who know Tom, know that he is not a complainer. I also found out that he had NOT gone to make radio talks- he had been really sick all day long! I was alarmed, so I ran to fetch the thermometer and apply it. 103+!!!  Not good! Consultations with the nurse daughters, Grace and Candace, who recommended extra-strength Tylenol. Also some researching by Wendy- all were telling me that this was not a Good Thing, and could be a very Awful Thing for someone whose immune system has been compromised by chemo. Tom has been undergoing chemo for three years. All that time, he has not really had anything major-major, other than the side effects of chemo. We are so very thankful that Tom has been able to live a pretty normal life, even though he has been undergoing treatments for that long.

So I called and got our oncologist's answering service, who then relayed it to the doctor on call, who glibly said that I should take Tom to the ER. Tom was not in favor of that last night. "Let's wait until the morning".

I didn't rest very well last night. I felt that I had to check on him every couple of hours- bring him water or juice, take his temp. It was a relief to see that it had gone down a couple of degrees after the Tylenol.

In the morning, the Greek chorus of daughters encouraged me to get him somewhere to get a blood test to see where his germ-killing white blood cell count was. It was a little juggling, there was a class Candace needed to take for her own ICU job this morning, so there was some babysitting involved. She wasn't gone long. After that, we all went back home. Candace and I tag-teamed Tom into the car and off to the hospital at about 10 am.

It was a relief at the hospital- we got right in, and they swooped him off. Turned out that they did a lot more than just a blood test. They tested this and that and the other. We had to wait awhile for the results. Tom slept after the testing there in the ER, and I got some quality dozing in a chair in the room. In the flurry of getting to the car to go to the hospital, I had forgotten my cell phone at home. Amazing how much rest I got without having that on me. But family members were anxious to know what was going on with their dad, so they entreated Verity to bring our phones. (Tom didn't have his either) Verity made the delivery and then the text reporting commenced.

A side note- the nurse who took care of Tom was the mom of one of our sons-in-law's best friend. (Huh?) And another nurse I talked to lives down the street from us. Nice to have that familiarity.

After 2 pm, things got lively. In the room next to us we could hear lots of noise and ruckus. A woman was brought in who had overdosed and was driving and had drugs on her and crashed her vehicle. I don't know what all was going on, but I heard two police telling her that she was getting a DUI, read her rights to her, told her about the penalties involved. She was out of her head with the drugs, so our peaceful napping interlude was pretty much over.

Not long after that, the nice doctor came into the room and said that all of Tom's levels were acceptable- he didn't have the flu, he had a virus, which is probably what our grandchildren have been having. We were given instructions to get rest and chicken soup. Much better than the alternative!!

So five hours of hospital was enough to last us for awhile- I hope a good long while. We are appreciative of our children's insistence; love and care for their dad. There are a LOT of things that could have happened, and it is better to err on the side of caution. Good to get it checked out, which Tom agreed was the case.

We continue to be thankful for all the prayers. They prop us up, provide strength and encouragement at all times!