Long session at BMT clinic

I was quite surprised at the small number of patients at the clinic today and a similarly small number of staff in attendance.  I only waited a few minutes to be weighed, measured and seated in the Infusion Room for the remaining vitals.  Susan then placed the line in my port and told me that there was no directive for blood to be drawn so I expected to leave as soon as I was given a Velcade shot.  But Oliver then intervened and said I was scheduled for an Aredia infusion and, because my kidney function remains compromised as shown by the bloodwork a week ago, the infusion would require 4 hours.  This was disconcerting because Emma and I had planned to go to Costco after our lunch to purchase a new wireless telephone system, which she didn't want to do once I got home.  She had done a lot of standing recently and did not want to walk around Costco.

We needed a new phone system because our telephones had been dead since Saturday afternoon and none of my efforts to restore service following instructions from CenturyLink had succeeded.  We had a power outage Saturday that started between 7:50 and 8:00 AM and lasted until about 2:00 PM.  We visited with friends from Elko in our well-lighted Living Room for an hour or so and then went for a leisurely lunch and when we returned home we found the power restored, but all the telephones unworkable.  The 2 remote units both displayed "line in use" and the table units had no dial tone.  Two calls for service were terminated because I was told I would have to pay a minimum of $95.00 if the technician even set foot inside the house and we couldn't have service until Monday morning.  I tried everything I was told to do and the last test showed me that the problem was in the outside line.  So I called for service again Sunday morning and agreed to pay the service call if the trouble was inside the house.  The telephone service tech arrived at the house this morning about 9:00 and had finished before I left for the clinic.  He showed me my mistake in testing the outside line by using the wrong jack and then came inside and found that the base for the remote units was defective and this had caused the inside line problems.  I did not have to pay for the brief visit.

The chair next to me at the clinic today was occupied by a former oil field worker who had received 2 transplants thanks to a good insurance plan provided by his employer.  His wife told about his diagnosis and that he was told his Myeloma was in remission after the first transplant, which I found hard to believe.  He appeared to be in worse physical condition than me and he is not yet drawing Social Security (or perhaps not yet old enough for Medicare because they asked me how it works).  He was getting an Aredia infusion, but finished before I did and started later so his kidneys must not be a problem.  They live somewhere in Colorado and seemed to be well known to the BMT staff, but I have never seen them before.  Laurie was his nurse for the day and answered questions that I posed to her about how much extra protein I need to consume and what to do with the Thalidomide I have left over (call Celgene and they will tell me what to do).