Sunday, January 18

Sou woke me up at 6:15a.m. to order his breakfast. When I called, a recording said they weren't open until 6:30a.m. Fifteen minutes later, I ordered him some scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage links, corn flakes and a fruit cup. It was too early to get up for no reason, so I went back to sleep until 8a.m. when Sou woke me up again. I think it was to turn up the heat in the room. His appetite seems to be good. This is probably the third day that he's eaten all of his breakfast. I left the hospital around 11a.m. to spend time with my mom and sister. Sou was already asleep when I left because of the meds they gave him. 

It was a clear day. My mom made it seem like they haven't seen sun before. Seattle rains a ton. She kept complaining about the sun getting in her eyes and how the sun was hot and blah, blah, blah. After I took a shower, my mom told me to take Kaliya to Blockbuster while she got ready. She gave me directions like, "Go to this light, turn left. Then go all the way down and make a right by the casino. Then go all the waaay down and you'll see Blockbuster." I was in the wrong lane when Kaliya yelled, "BLOCKBUSTER!!!!" Right now she's into that anime Inuyasha. She kept talking about how excited she was to rent part II and III. She also mentioned crying during one scene. Along with her movies, I bought her a bucket of popcorn with a Reese's, Coke and Sprite. I also took her to Baskin Robbins next door.  While ordering her ice cream, my mom called and said to pick up some lunch for Kaliya. Because Safeway was in the same building, I took her to their deli. She wasn't interested in the chicken wings or the potato wedges. So I ended up taking her to their chinese section. She starred at a tray of the "General Tso's Chicken" and looked at the asian lady behind the counter.

"Excuse me! Can I taste that?" she asked as she pointed her finger against the glass.

The lady grabbed a toothpick and poked a small piece of chicken. 

"Be cay ful. Is a lil bit spy see. You know. Some kids don laik spy see," she said as she handed it to Kaliya.  

"MMMMM" she said as she looked down at the tooth pick while chewing.

"Good?" I asked.

"MMM hmm!" she nodded. I then told the lady that she'll have the chicken with fried rice. We went back to my mom's place to pick her up. Off to the outlet mall we went. 

It was probably a 20-25 minute drive north of Mountlake Terrace. I felt a tingle of excitement when I saw the names Guess, Coach, Juicy Couture, and a couple others along the outside of a huge structure. The parking lot was packed, but we got lucky and found parking right in front. The first store we hit up was Coach because it was the first one we spot. It was jammed packed. There was this lady who was handing out "10% off" coupons at the door. And to make things even better, there were signs all over that said, "Take an addition 50% off clearance items". AHHHH it was so awesome because almost half the store was on clearance. I ended up getting a wristlet for $35, a small bag for $45, and another one that was bigger for $140. We stopped in several other stores after that but I didn't buy anything else. I was too excited about those purses. It was one of those things where I didn't wanna put the shopping bag in the back seat. I wanted it to sit in my lap so I could look at the stuff while we were driving. On the way back to the hospital, we stopped at L&L for some grub. My mom went ahead and started to order. Then she was like, "Okay Jheri, what do you want?"

"I don't know.....Lemme see..." I said as I starred at the menu. I couldn't decide what to get. EVERYTHING looked so good. I was debating between the chicken katsu and the barbeque chicken. So then I just decided to order both. LOL. Yes, both. Mini sizes of course. The lady was like, "Well, if you want both, you can just have half and half for a regular plate. It's cheaper. They didn't have the combination plates already on the menu there. I guess you just make your own. Like always, they served me with an oversized portion of chicken, rice, and mac salad. I got the food "to go" because it was already getting late and I know Sou wanted me back at the hospital by dinner time. 

When I opened the styrofoam "to go" plate, the aroma of freshly barbequed chicken filled the air. Sou was curious to see what I got. I showed it to him and offered him a tiny bite. To my surprise, he turned it down. How disciplined! His dinner arrived 5 minutes later. He ordered not one, but two cheeseburgers and some gatorade. It was nice to see him eat like he normally did. Sometime during dinner, the nurse came and said that he should walk around the floor during the night. He hasn't been walking much. All he walks to is the bathroom which is 4 steps away from the bed. He's been like that for a week now. After dinner, he put on some pajama pants and a shirt. I grabbed a cup of gatorade just incase he would want it. We started our walk towards the lounge near the elevators. After about ten feet, Sou began taking in big breaths of air. 

"Ahhh that feels good!," he said. 

"What, the air or walking?" I asked.

"The air," he continued. I began to walk and every time he kept falling behind. He wasn't walking as fast as before. I had to keep waiting for him to keep up. He also seemed to waddle. It was probably because he hasn't walked much in so long. By the time we reached the lounge, he looked out the window. There was a hillside full of lights from the houses and a highway that ran along it. 

"Wow, nice city," he commented. Little did he know, that was just a hill full of houses. In the ambulance ride to UWMC Sou missed the entire view of downtown Seattle. Later on in our walk we encountered other windows where he could see the streets and the Husky Stadium. At one point he said he couldn't wait to get outside. The confinement of a hospital room was starting to get to him. How much fresher can the air of the hospital hallways be than  the air in a hospital room? After about two laps around the floor we went back to his room. 

The nurse came by later on with his chemo and a bedside commode. She came in, sat on it and said, "This is now your new best friend!" Because any type of bleeding could complicate the chemo treatment, they had to keep an eye on his stool for blood. From now on, he is supposed to go in the commode and call for the nurse to look at it. She hooked up his Arsenic and gave him his pill. Before long, Sou was asleep again.