Sitting on Top of the World

First dose of chemo in the pricipal's office.

Dad has his dancing shoes on!

So, I have almost doubled the music on my computer today. I've spent the whole afternoon/evening/night loading dad's old Cd's so he can listen to them on his iPod. I forgot to mention earlier, but his last question about the iPod last night was at about 12:20. He came upstairs and asked me "How do I shut this thing off?"

He has been dancing around the house since he got home. Literally dancing. He has the volume turned up so loud, that we can all hear the music word for word. Even from other rooms with the TV on. His spirits are completely turned around this week, and I know the iPod had a huge impact. He keeps saying how much he really wanted one, but how he wasn't going to actually spend the money and get one. He has not set it down, except for me to add more music to it. He even already drained the approximately 16 hour battery life.

I have also realized that I'm no longer going to be able to initiate conversation with my father without some sort of nudge, hit, etc. With his iPod constantly on and loud, he can not hear a word we are saying. But, this also makes it a million times easier to talk about him behind his back. ;D

First Dose of Chemo

I just left the chemo place where dad is getting his chemo treatment. Let's just say it's like riding first class on an airplane. He sits in this big comfy recliner, does whatever he wants to keep busy, and has a lot of super friendly nurses who attend to his every need. And I can't forget about the free snacks and drinks they have out for the patients. When I got out of class, I picked mom up and we ate lunch at Atlanta Bread. Dad requested we bring him back some Bread Pudding. When we walked in, he was sitting in his recliner listening to his iPod. One of the nurses told us that he has been jamming since mom left. He told me that his iPod was really cool. But he did put it away to talk to us. Or at least to me while I was there. He seemed to really be enjoying himself, despite the circumstances.

They gave him a "medium" dosage of the chemotherapy treatment. And they aren't going to start his radiation till next Monday. The nurses told him when they found out he was a new patient that he had to go sit at the "principals office", which is the recliner closet to the nurses station. That way, they can make sure he behaves. The funniest thing was the IV machine would yell (beep profusely) at him when he moved his arm too much, which was about every 2 minutes.

Giving the iPod

I just gave dad the iPod. It would be the understatement of the year to say he absolutely loved it. He was completely surprised. He said he wants to know who to send the thank you cards to. We gave it to him right before he was going to go to bed. I had a very busy weekend and had to wait till Sunday night to add the music to it. He made the comment "now I'm going to stay up all night figuring this thing out!" He took it downstairs, and kept coming back with questions about it. I gave him the rest of the money to spend on certain Cd's, accessories, etc. for it. I told him there would be a lot of disappointed people if he didn't spend that money on goodies for himself. He soon came up with cash and wanted me to buy him some Cd's over the Internet. We searched and bought one (because that's all my bank account would allow with a deposit). He was so excited and began to list a lot more Cd's that he was going to buy. As of now, he is still downstairs playing with it. :D