Hi, Mark!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:   
      
   AH>  Bottom line is, my daughter survived leukemia at a time   
   AH>  when the odds were a lot less favourable than they are now.   
   AH>  And together [she & Bernie Siegel] inspired me to start   
   AH>  this echo years ago....  :-)   
      
   MH>  It is great that you did and took the initiative to learn   
   MH>  as much as possible on the subject.  Not all parents do   
   MH>  that.  Our doctors have even pointed that out to us.   
      
      
            Yes, it seems to me that parents who do are able to work together   
   with doctors more effectively... and the good doctors appreciate it.   
      
      
      
   MH>  A good bit of the treatment is done at home with oral meds   
   MH>  that are time sensitive, have to be taken without food, etc,   
   mH>  things that as a parent, you need to be on top of.   
      
      
            Uh-huh.  Oncology parents are a special breed, that's for sure!    
   Years ago I joked that the oncology ward was the only one where adults had to   
   pass an exam before their kids would be discharged.  I was exaggerating, of   
   course, but not by much.  When our daughter stayed briefly in another ward   
   during treatment I marched up to the nursing station at 11:00 AM, notebook in   
   hand, to check her blood counts... as I had grown accustomed to doing.  In 3B   
   I'd have had to wait my turn, whereas in this ward it came as quite a surprise   
   to the staff....  ;-)   
      
      
      
   MH>  I always want to know as much as possible about everything   
   MH>  and how everything works.   
      
      
            That's my reasoning style too.  I was glad I asked "Why?" when a   
   nurse told me during the initial stages of treatment that band-aids should be   
   removed within 24 hours.  (Germs like warm, dark, damp places.  Okay... I get   
   it.)  One of our roommates had to stay an extra two weeks because her mother   
   did not make any mental connection between band-aids & surgical dressings, so   
   when the staff improvised something with tape & gauze she waited for somebody   
   to tell her what to do.  There again, a bit of initiative goes a long way....    
   :-)   
      
      
      
   MH>  BTW, we get a two week break from treatments and then   
   MH>  start Interim Maintanence II possibly next week if counts   
   MH>  are good.  That is the final phase before Maintanence,   
   MH>  when things should start getting more normal.   
      
      
            I expect so.  Thinking of you, even if I'm slow to reply....  :-)   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)