Visit to Serenity Garden breaks up long day

Topiary "Boo Boo Bear" at rooftop Children's Fairy
Garden at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

Instead of the usual Monday, I had my clinic visit yesterday, due to scheduling changes after the Labor Day weekend. As I suspected, my hematocrit was pretty low – requiring two bags of blood – and my platelets were 10, earning me a bag of platelets. At least the platelets stayed in double digits after 10 days between visits instead of the usual seven. My white count was good, 6.1, and I gained a couple of pounds.

So my worries about a system crash were just that, worries. Dr. Alyea is not concerned, although he would like those platelets and rbcs to start doing their thing. Also apparently I did not eat enough potato chips and crackers; my low sodium had risen after I followed instructions to eat salty snacks, but I slacked off after they said the level had risen, and then it started going down again. I don't have much of a "salty" tooth. Too bad my instructions aren't to eat a lot of cake and ice cream.

My friend Margaret, who works downtown, came to have lunch with me while I waited for my blood and platelets. We ate outside at the "secret garden," which is not exactly secret but is not



crowded either. It's a beautiful outdoor spot in Brigham and Women's Hospital's Connors Center for Women's Health, on the six floor at the neonatal intensive care unit, on the other side of the hospital from where I camped out.

One of my doctors had told me about it when I was in the hospital and really wanted to get some air and sun. This was a good way to do it without having to go out in the real world.

The garden was created and is maintained by a landscaper who lost one of his premature triplets about six years ago. (The other two are doing fine.) On one side is Linnea's Serenity Garden, a patio ringed by flowers and bushes. On the other side is The Children's Fairy Garden. They really are serene.

We sat in the Fairy Garden. Overlooking the rooftops of Boston's Mission Hall area, it also has a patio with tables and chairs, bordered by flowers and whimsical stone sculptures, such as the Frog Prince, and topiary such as Boo Boo Bear.

Margaret gave me a beautiful scarf which just happened to pick up the green in the sweater I was wearing as well as many colors on my necklace. The necklace has a story too: My friend Emily and her daughters Jessica and Samantha got it on a trip to Tanzania. It's a local craft made by women in many parts of Africa to empower the "Mamas" in the villages by providing them with an income. The colorful necklace looks like it's made of beads, but really it's paper. When Emily and Jessica came to visit me in the hospital, I admired the necklace, which Jessica was wearing. She took it off and gave it to me.

This was my second time driving myself, my drivers having returned to school. They gave me the transfusions with a little hydrocortisone instead of Benadryl, because Benadryl puts me right to sleep. (I need something because I am prone to reactions.) The drive is one-and-a-half to two hours, depending on traffic.

With help from Starbucks, I did not get sleepy on the way back, which is where I tend to get tired.

Biggest problem driving home alone: Opening the Odwalla bar that I got at the clinic.
Second biggest problem: Actually eating it. Yuk. I still haven't found one of those bars that I like. A chocolatey Balance Bar is palatable.

Last night I talked to my friend Ken, who "played" tennis with me the other day when I was pretty sluggish. I joked that now that my tank is full, we should play today so I could zip around the court just like the players we've been watching at the U.S. Open.

"OK," he said. "I'll be at your house at 11."

"I was only kidding!" I said.

"I know," he said. "See you at 11."

Gotta go get ready.