I officially now have no immunity! My white blood cell count is 0.1 and still falling. My old stem cells are gone. My body is now at its most vulnerable state to contract an infection. Imagine my surprise when I found a rusty screw with a very protruding “shank” on the toilet paper dispenser in my “Quarantine in Isolation” hospital room. I am not even allowed to use a battery-powered toothbrush for fear of cutting my gums and getting an infection. The soft bristle toothbrush they gave me is utterly useless! I’ve decided it is better to just put some toothpaste in a little water and swish it around in the mouth and call it a day. Whoops—I typed that too soon. My nurse just looked in my restroom and asked, “Where is the toothpaste we gave you?”—I didn’t know nurse training included a “spy on the patient” course. I said I was using it. “No” she replied, “we gave you two types.” I said I used the other one and didn’t like it. She said, “Get it because I’m taking the other away from you. The new toothpaste is anti-viral.”

But I digress: How did I discover this screw? Kathy and I surmised that hospital toilet paper would be rather cheap and with regular use feel like sandpaper, so we brought our own with us. I keep it on a shelf within reach of the commode. Since the hospital “sandpaper’ is in the double roll dispenser, I simply reach for our soft toilet paper and place it on top of the double roll dispenser’s flat top surface. Yesterday, when I was finished, I tried to move my toilet paper back to its place on the shelf and it stuck and shredded some of the paper. Curious, I inspected and found the protruding metal shard from the screw. Upon further inspection I noticed that the screw was not stainless steel as was the double roll dispenser, but a regular screw that was now rusted. If I had rubbed my hand over that spot, it could have easily cut my hand open. I quickly envisioned the staff patching me up and putting me on huge antibiotics to keep me alive. Would it work? Thankfully, it didn’t get that far. I reported the problem and the hospital maintenance man recently left my room having fixed the issue.

Humorously, in my confinement, my mind has gone wild. I made up headlines announcing my death from various sources as a result of that screw:
Insurance Company: Hospital Patient Dies from Unknown Cause
Hospital: Patient Ignores the Rules and Dies
Kathy, my Wife: Beloved Husband Dies in Hospital while Maintaining Routine Health Regimen
Real Headline Making National News: Nasty Insurance Court Case has Architectural Firm, Maintenance Company, Foundry Supplier and Construction Company in Legal Tussle over Who’s Responsible for Hospital Patient’s Death Because of Faulty Screw
Secondary Headline: Legal and Industrial Forensics Experts Weigh In

OK, enough of that! In other news. My recent Covid test returned negative. Amazing! They do not know what to make of my three negative and one positive test results. My doctor team informed me that no matter the diagnosis, it has nil effect on my treatment. Unfortunately, I will not get out of this “Quarantine in Isolation” room. Thus, no hall walking or workout in the exercise room. God willing, I’ll be back home before the CDC makes an official declaration that I am free of Covid. Thus, my doctor team told me they were not instructing me, simply empowering me, to politely refuse any more Covid tests. Yep! No more unnecessary intrusions on my day that make absolutely no difference in my quarantine status. Everyone knows I do not have Covid, but the CDC will not make that official until all the protocols, now taking an extra two weeks, are followed. (I realize these protocols are for the protection of not only myself, but also the other patients and staff on the floor—that is why Kathy and I are content in our cozy room.)

Philippians 4: “And my God will supply every need (even as protection from something as minute as a rusty screw shard) of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Praise Report: Another negative Covid test result. White Blood Cells reaching the desired low number. Awesome staff at the hospital. That I made it to Day 7—(10th day in the hospital)—in good shape.

Prayer Request: That my stem cell booster being given this evening will work as expected, thus causing my transplanted stem cells to engraft. That possible side effects of the transplant process continue to be kept at bay.