Day 11

For the most part its been uneventful here at the hospital. I'm starting the feel the effects of something, whether its a mild infection on of Graft V Host Disease, its uncertain, but the team is keeping a close eye on everything. Food has continued to lose its appeal as I've a harder time keeping it down and my appetite is not as big as it could be. This has made it hard for my mom as she's trying to keep me well fed. 

Also I've felt much weaker, again likely caused by GVHS and a sore throat today. Overall the doctors still say I am doing great, I'm just not feeling great comparatively. A big part of this is simply the fact that I want to go home...I miss walking from room to room, getting my own cup of water, and taking a shower in a room that is not next to the toilet. I miss having my own schedule, and hanging out with Scout for however long he has. I miss a change of scenery from the hospital bed onto rooftop mechanical units. I miss being strong and healthy again. I know it doesn't seem like much but right now, its where I'm at. if all goes as planned, I have another 19 days to get through based upon the average.

However, the biggest praise thus far has been the fact that I've yet to experience a bad infection. That is really good. The other big praise is that the kidney has actually held up pretty well through all the chemo and changes with the BMT thus far--both were major concerns going into this, and God has heard your prayers. We are now praying that my counts (ANC - Absolute Neutrophil Counts) start to rise, the goal is to hit 500 or above to be able to go home from the hospital. Right now its still undetectable.

At home Naomi seems to be doing well with school and soccer starting already. when asked how much she missed mom she said 3/10...I guess that's a good thing?

This is a short update, but wanted to make sure you had an idea of what these last few days have been like.   

Ruth