Day 7

The white count is still down close to zero, so no bounce today.

I started to write about the Texas Medical Center last night and got tired. But M. D. Anderson is in an area of Houston a few miles south of downtown called the Texas Medical Center. This area is probably 15 maybe 20 city blocks in size. In addition to the numerous M. D. Anderson buildings there are many other hospitals, labs, clinics, doctors' buildings, and medical schools. All buildings are multi-story mid to high rise buildings. Atlanta has nothing to compare. "Pill Hill" in Atlanta, the area made up by Northside, St. Joseph's, & Scottish Rite Hospitals plus numerous low rise doctors' buildings, looks like a high school campus in comparison to the Texas Medical Center. As often said, "Everything is bigger in Texas." It certainly applies to medicine here.

This area seems to be a magnet for the top medical talent in the world. For instance, my leukemia doctor here, Michael Keating, is easily in the top three CLL experts in the world. He would probably be insulted by my not calling him the top, but I'm trying to be realistic. He is not arrogant, though. He is from Australia and has a little accent to prove it. He has said he would like to live in Australia, but his work is here. We call him the "Jolly Old Elf" because he is outwardly friendly and hugs everybody and makes his nurses hug everybody, too. The nurses don't seem to enjoy it as much as he does, though. I've seen him go out into the waiting room, which is large too, and greet and hug everyone like he's running for governor. He also travels around the world comparing notes with other experts, especially in Germany and Spain. Other countries are not constrained by FDA regulations so they get to try new techniques more readily than we might in the U.S. So he trots the globe to keep with what's going on everywhere.

The bone marrow transplant doctors are just as competent. My doctor, Dr. Khouri, specializes in stem cell transplants in CLL patients. That's pretty specific. M. D. does about 700 bone marrow transplants a year, probably more than any other facility in the country. I've said that you might get just one good bite at this apple so you better go to the best place possible to maximize your chances. So my confidence level here is high.

Speaking of big buildings, this hospital makes a sizable footprint also. And it's just a 12 story wing of the main M.D. Anderson building. The distance around this floor is just a little shorter than a track around a football field. It takes 4 trips around the football field track to equal a mile and it takes 5 trips around this building to equal a mile. I checked that out the second day I was here. Being the engineer and golfer I am, I can pace off a yard easily and accurately. So I counted the paces around the floor. It took 398 paces to get around the floor. So if my stride was 3 feet then it was about 1200 feet around. There are 5,280 feet in a mile, so do the math and you get about 4 and a half laps to the mile. I probably took a few short strides to dodge people and stuff in the hallways, so I would round the 1200 feet down and say 5 laps is a mile. That is what the nurses told me on the first day. I had to keep them honest, though.

On this floor, which is dedicated to bone marrow transplants, there are 2 wings, east and west. In each wing there are 2 big nurses stations. So you have SE, NE, SW, and NW pods. Each pod has a nurses station with about a dozen nurses and assistants to attend to the 13 patient rooms. So there are 52 patient rooms in total. In addition to the patient rooms there are family lounges, visitor bathrooms, staff bathrooms, staff locker rooms, staff breakrooms, janitor closets, storage closets, admin offices, food service breakout rooms, a pharmacy satellite, holding rooms, conference rooms, etc. There are two elevator lobbies, one with 6 elevators for staff and services, and one with 8 elevators for patients and visitors. I'm sure I missed a few rooms, but my point is there is a lot on this floor. It takes me 5 minutes to make one lap going at a pretty quick pace.

Speaking of laps, I did 20 of them on Wednesday. I only did 10 yesterday because I was in Benadryl la-la land much of the day. I bet I'll do at least 3 miles today. Not much else to do really and the four walls close in on you if you stay in the room.

Saturday night will make 2 weeks that I've been here in the hospital. I hope I only have about a week left. Let's go white count!