First Injection or Happy Valintines Day

One of the comments to the schedule letter was "...it was precise and scientific as we know you...  " or as Eileen sometimes says, actual and factual.  I guess that's the German engineer coming out.  So I'll try to make the posts just a little more human and inject a bit of humor if possible.

Thursday was the first injection of neuprojen.  This js the drug that stimulates growth of bone marrow. The drug is given as an injection in fatty tissue so my belly is the target.  Well given my body mass and the limit they want with each injection lucky me gets 2, one on each side of the stomach.  And as a bonus I'll be taking these at home, once a day over the weekend.  Since I just can't see me giving myself shots, I've asked Eileen to do it.   So not only did I get my first two shots, Eileen got training in how to give them to me over the weekend. The first two shots were given by Eileen as a test to make sure that she had learned the proper procedure. So my Valentine's Day present was getting stuck with a needle twice by my beloved.

A nurse at the injection center did recommend a small Italian restaurant over on Taylor Street (which is an Italian restaurant area near the hospital for those of you not familiar with the Chicago area). We went to it for a Valentine's Day Italian dinner. I've attached a photo of us as well as the Valentine cheesecake that was their special for the day.

Some of you who haven't seen me in a while might be surprised by the length of hair and beard. The beard was described as Civil War style by one of my Facebook friends. Since all the hair will be falling out in about a month I decided to grow as much as possible while I can. There is some debate at the hospital as to the fate of the mustache, if it does go, that will be to first time that many folks have seen me without it, since it dates from Christmas of 1965.

One of the side effects of this drug is tiredness and I fell asleep on the couch almost as soon as we got home. Eileen did sneak this photo which you might get a kick out of. Anyway will see how the side effects of this drug materialize.