Transplant Day +3

It has been three days since my stem cell transplant and I am doing pretty well.  My doctors visit me twice daily and have been very happy with my progress.  As of yesterday, labs officially indicated my old army of immune cells that went rogue and were attacking their own forces (my healthy tissue) have been destroyed.  A new army is in the infancy stages of development from my 10 million stem cells reinfused 3 days prior.  It will be quite some time before I have a seasoned, well trained army of immune cells ready to fight and win complex wars against my body from foreign invaders.  However, when my new army is formed around day transplant day +10, they will have sufficient training to fight off small scale attacks and will have assistance from antiviral and antibiotics forces until they fully develop in the months to come.

Thankfully, I am mostly over the nausea and have been able to hold down my last few meals.  I am eating more, and most of my gastrointestinal issues have resolved, including the constipation, for which I am very grateful.  One thing I do continue to have, and apparently will have for months to come, according to my doctors, is fatigue. I do try to get up and walk laps around the unit a few times a day, but tire quickly, as the level of cells that carry oxygen molecules in my blood is decreased, as expected. 

Yesterday, my friend, Mike, came by again and made us laugh as usual.  His upbeat personality and sense of humor helped uplift my mood.  We reminisced about some of the good ole' days back when we were both enlisted in the Navy. Mike also arrived with a fresh supply of laundry, which I really appreciated, as personal laundry services are very limited in the area.

The last several days I have received calls of encouragement from shipmates I haven't seen in many years. This morning, I got a call from an old shipmate, Ron, who retired from the Navy in 2003, but is currently a contractor serving in Iraq.  It was great to hear from him and laugh and joke about old times.  Time passes so quickly.  It means a lot to keep in touch with friends and to know that so many people care.

Wendy and I have been watching some classical comedies including, "Revenge of the Nerds", and "Back to School", which we haven't seen in so long, that it was like watching them for the first time.  We laughed a lot, which is good for healing and helped to pass some time.  Today, we attended a class provided by "Gilda's Club", which is a cancer support group, started in the name of Gilda Radner, from Saturday Night Live, who passed away from cancer.  We learned relaxation techniques in "Chair Yoga", which may come in handy when I return back to work.  Also, we did some art therapy, which was quite relaxing in itself, despite my lack of artistic ability.  It made us realize how rarely we remember to stop and take the time to just play or meditate, which is so important for a healthy balance, and overall well-being.

Over the next few days my primary goals are to rest, prevent infection, and let my stem cells mature and engraft.  Sadly, Wendy returns to Hawaii on Sunday and goes back work on Monday.  My brother arrives tomorrow and will stay with me until I return to Hawaii.

If all continues to go well, I can be discharged from the hospital as early as 11 March and I would stay in the local area until my follow up appointment with Dr. Burt on 16 March.  This means I could be back in Hawaii as early as 17 March. :)