Birthday Day!

Day 0

Stem cell day.

It's pretty anticlimactic.

They basically bring a tiny little bag of cells and transfuse.

It barely takes any time.

And then... you wait.

Once my numbers start going up, that's a good sign. But they are going to drop more before we start to see an upswing. They say anywhere between day +7 to day +14 I'll expect to see them moving up.

And then there is the 30 day bone marrow biopsy that will show how much I've engrafted (aka. how much I am my new cells versus my old ones - the goal is 100%)

-----

Update on hospital life:

So far everything is going pretty well. My numbers are starting to tank. Expected. They have me on gobs and gobs of pills (anti-viral, fungal, bacterial, etc...) Expected. Along with IV's of immunosuppressants to hopefully offset GVHD. 

They're still talking a lot about nausea and diarrhea and mouth sores and no appetite. But so far, I'm ok. I'm pooping a ton. I'm sure, you are glad to hear that. It started yesterday. It's annoying. But, so far, not diarrhea. I think my anxiety driven hospital constipation is helping me keep the diarrhea at bay. They say it's coming though. On the plus side, I talked my way out of the hat for the day. Doctor says, just today, I say, we'll talk about it tomorrow. 

I'm getting real tired of them waking me up all hours of the night. I never understand why hospitals will not let you sleep. It's so annoying. They come in around 9pm for meds and vitals. Then I try and go to sleep shortly after that, otherwise I'll get now sleep before they come in at midnight. Midnight, more vitals and labs. You can't sleep through this stuff. Then, last night, they come in around 4am to give me more meds (need to get immediately on an antibiotic now that I'm neutropenic) and they decide they're going to give me platelets so I get some benedryl. I'm at 22 (which is high for transfusion, but I guess my HLA matched diamond studded gold leafed platelets are expiring, so why not give them to me. Whatever.) So, then, around 4:45am, they come in and give me platelets. The nurse has to stay in here during platelet transfusions, because they have to do vitals before, at 15 min and after and the whole thing usually only takes 30-45 minutes. But, on top of her staying in here, she's training a new guy, so they're talking and both in here. Annoying. Then I get to go back to sleep for a couple more hours. Oh, and the other crappy thing about sleeping in a hospital. You have to drag this stupid IV pole with you every time you need to pee, which is every time they wake me up. Imagine having to unplug your flat screen and take it in the bathroom with you and then come back and plug it back in before getting back in bed. It's real annoying.

I spend most of my days watching Food Network or Netflix. I'm doing a bit of embroidery too. And then dreaming of all the things I want to do when life gets back to normal. Planning my 2 year and 5 year birthdays. I'm thinking family vacation to Hawaii for 2 years and an epic bike tour through Italy with Zach for 5. 

I miss the sun. And fresh air.

Will update again soon.
Love & Light.
😷😘 michelle