Hosiery

Friday 13 April evening

Friday the thirteenth, a bad omen ever sincea French King named Philip opened the hunt for the Knights Templar in the year 1307 - Friday, October 13th.

For Lara it wasn't one of Lara's better days for sure. She had a rough night with fever shooting up well over 39C. The night nurses forced it down with Dafalgan and cold packs. Towards midday it came back up again, and when I arrived at 2:45PM her temp stood at 39.4C. That, my friends, is a hefty temperature for an adult. Lara lay shivering under the sheets, an unusal blush on her cheeks. She was just burning up, despite drinking lots of water. The will give her no more than 3 grams of Dafalgan per day so they will have to make it last.

Lot, my daughter, surprised her with a visit. Lot had come several times to support her dad, last year, but had trouble relocating Yasmin, our granddaughter, who is not,allowed anywhere near susceptible adults.This time she had come over specially, by herself. Lara did her utmost over three hours to be her usual self, engaging her in conversation, wise-cracking, but you could see that it took a lot out of her.

The day ended (it is now 6:30PM) with two pieces of good news. One, there was talk of exchanging her central line (voie central) to avoid bacterial risks, but after re-checking their data as between the hematologist and the bacteriologist, they decided against it. Not worth the hassle. Two, they did a microscopic scan of this morning's blood sample and the first signs of a return of the leukocytes were duly observed, although it is too early to tell. Monday we will know more.

Gert-Jan, my friend the doctor, agreed with the choice of antibiotics and antifungals, even though it didn't correspond 100% with his own preferences. He wasn't particularly worried about a CPR of 19.1, which he would have been at a level of 40. An important and anodyne piece of news.

Tomorrow I will get myself over to Honkemoller on the rue Neuve, a specialty store for hosiery and seek out some night gowns and shirts for Lara. Who would have thought I would ever venture into a shop like that - by myself? I bet the vendeuses will nudge eachother pointing at me saying: there goes another one!

Off to a brasserie for dinner.