Hopital

Papa is at the hospital since Monday. They first gave him the chemio and it went well. No side-effects and so on.
Yesterday, he received his cell transplant and once again it went very well. Not fever, no reaction. He is now in a totally sterile room, my family has to put on a complete suit when they visit him, one at a time. He is having this kind of ventilation on him all the time.
So I am relieved a bit. Now we are waiting for the blood test to see if the transplant is working.

But...There is always a "but", right? France is changing. The wrong way: everything is being privatized. Everyone and everything is following the very same path USA followed these last years (if not decades). See where we are now? At the hospital, you have to pay several euros to park to go and visit your family. I don't know for other hospitals, but I never heard about that in here, and it was the first time in France.

The first 2 days, there were not telephone and no tv in the room. It was broken. But now, everything is outsource to private businesses and it takes days to have them to come and fix things. My granny gave my Dad that wonderful laptop and we were planning on doing a lot of webcam as I am so far away. Well, there is no way he can catch a wireless network! They are all locked and the one available for everyone doesn't work.

It took 2 days to bring him a blanket (he was really cold with the aeration thing). It took one day to bring him a nicotine patch. The tobaccologue was supposed to visit him. No one so far.
That ward is supposed to close next year and they will all move in the brand new buildings. Yes, fine. 
But what do the patients become until then?

Fortunately the nurses seem quite nice with him and are visiting him often. He sleeps well and eat well.
I miss him so much. Today I was finally able to speak with him (yes, he is back in the 21st century! He has very nice movies channels and PHONE! Crazy, right?).
A friend proposed to lend me the money to go and see him. I am so touched by her wonderful generosity. And if she reads that, a lot of hugs to her!

That is something I discovered living in this country, USA. People are generous. 

Papa

On Monday, my Dad will go to the hospital to receive a cell transplant. They will give him massive chemio treatment and do the auto transplant on the 18th. All his cancerous cells will be destroyed and they will reimplant some which were treated separately, for his system to build new healthy cells.

He will stay a minimum of 15 days in hospital. The ward he will be in is a very little one, there are only 6 rooms. So I guess they will really pay attention to his needs etc. Also my Mom, my bro and my sis will be there. But...I won't. Everyday since we learnt he will enter the hospital, I have been holding my tears. I would love to be with him but it is not possible for me right now.

So I have been drowning myself into work, but somehow I always have that terrible feeling, I am not happy about myself...

Today I went for a walk in a park in the countryside with my dog and hubby. The great sun, the clear crisp air entered my head and cleaned away the bad smells and rotten thoughts which had pilled up ones on top of the others. I am feeling a bit better now. 

New garments and Anniversary!

I have been really busy with finishing all the clothes I started before the holidays, taking pictures and editing them, making and sending New Year cards to my 2008 customers (sorry for the late!!).

It is already february and tomorrow is our 5 years wedding anniversary. I never thought I would get married, never wanted it either. Plus it was not an actual wedding, just a lawyer and a handfull of friends. I was wearing that crazy goth gown and black make-up. It was only 10 days we had adopted Ulysse. There was no furniture in the house. We were super duper broke. The wedding was a matter of legal aspect. Funnily enough, through the year, it started to make sense. I can now say "my husband" proudly, without thinking this is too old school.

Well, to come back to my work here are the latest.

Mon Ulysse

Mon Ulysse, originally uploaded by MlleHyena.

My love in a shape of a greyhound.