Before the War

Well, hopefully some of you have been checking on Sonja's blog for the latest skinny on what has been going down. It's been pretty busy for me the last few days, and the spare time has gone into just resting.  Getting out the computer to make the blog post just doesn't rank up on the 'thing to do next' list. In short, over the last few days, here's what has gone down. They let me out of T15 - Yay!! Checked into the Cancer Lodge and got in the same room with Mom. It was a very busy day checking out, and moving in.  It's surprising how weak you can get in a hospital bed for a month.. :) I had my first out patient appointment (post transplant) on the 26th (Friday). Early in the morning - 8am - yuck. They topped me up with fluids and magnesium. Blood work was ok, but because I didn't get enough water into my body on checkout day just from being to busy and tired, my liver function levels were a bit off, and they wanted to bring me in again on ...

We'll have to see how it all pans out, but the current plan is to be discharged to the Cancer Lodge tomorrow. The room is booked and hopefully everything will work out for a visit back home over the weekend. Again, everything is day by day since the pitfalls of the transplant can hit at any time, and make me pretty sick, and even put me back in the hospital. Day by day.

Numbers are good - 3.7 White, 93 Red, and 101 Platelets.  If everything goes as planned, my numbers are pretty much going to be heading back to a normal person over the next few months, so I am not going to bother mentioning them any more unless something goes wrong. Sonja was over for an extended stay from Thursday night until lunchtime today.  I was missing her something fierce, so it was real good to have her around.  Just having her in the same room is so good. The snow came late on Saturday night, and made for a very nice view out the window.  By the morning the rain had "slushy crapped" on everything so it wasn't near as pretty. My throat is slowly getting better, and I am trying to eat some normal food.  Getting off the IV food and taking the pill versions of my meds are the only things keeping me in the hospital now.  Saturday night the last of my IV meds becomes a pill, and I am hoping they switch me to 1/2 IV food for tonight's dose as well....

So, my numbers are going up / holding now.  White cells were 2.3 (with 1.1 neutrophils), 88 hemoglobin, and 62 platelets.  I could technically use the exercise bike here should such a silly thought cross my mind. My mouth is healing up nicely, and I am no longer on continuous morphine drip for it.  The throat is still pretty nasty though and is keeping me from eating or drinking, and still using the suction for my own saliva.  I'm going nuts for a nice cold glass of water - it just hurts too bad.  Hopefully soon that will heal, and things will be better. Coming off the continuous morphine drip has removed it's constipative side effect.  As a result, I am now wearing Pull Ups just like Dexter.  Just a bit bigger, and Buzz Lightyear isn't telling me how great I am doing.  Also the only treat for making it to the potty before all heck breaks loose is that I don't have a massive cleanup operation.  Fortunately the nausea seems to have backed ...

The white cells jumped up to 1.3 !!! Although his throat and stuff is starting to feel better, he's been vomiting a lot, so he had a really crappy day. In fact, I think both of our phone conversations ended with him needing to get off the phone to throw up.

Ok, it's official.  I have been in here too long now, as I no longer know what day of the week it is. I seems the graft is starting to settle in.  The white count is up to 0.7, and the others are falling very slow.  The platelets might be gaining, but I had a transfusion yesterday so it's hard to tell.  (I don't have the 'post transfusion' counts). I am NOT feeling much better though.  I am still sleeping/zoned out/etc. through the day, and having crazy dreams, etc. and uncomfortable sleeps through the night.  It hurts to swallow.  So, when your crazy thirsty at night, because you have been sleeping with your mouth open, because your nose is blocked up from not being able to blow it due of nose bleeds, you are in for a world of hurt. I have managed to build up enough get up and go to get the computer on to post on the blog, check facebook, and put some audio-books onto my mp3 player. My blood sugar level was a bit high in my morning blood tes...

The whites are at .2 now! And it appears as though, maybe, possibly, his haemoglobin is stabilizing. It's possible that this means the grapht is starting to take hold!!! So exciting! So scary! Richard says that he's feeling even worse than before. He says his throat is even more sore (he continues to be on IV nutrition and has the suction tube to rid himself of his saliva because he cannot/does not want to swallow). He says his nausea is even worse too. However, to me, he sounded better on the phone when I talked to him this morning. Maybe that just means better drugs! From Sonja, The Wife 87 to go.

Norma (Richard's mom) just let me know that Richard has a white cell count of .1 as of today! That's a good thing! That means his numbers are on their way up! From the Wife, Sonja 88 to go!

Richard continues to be too ill to blog. If you'd like to keep up on how he's doing and progressing, just hop over to my rants at A Day In the Life of AJ and Dexter The part in bold labeled "My Man" is specifically about Richard's well being. In previous posts, those portions are usually labeled "Richard" or "Ricky". 89 to go!