A Weekend with "The Guys"

That was fun.

I met Mike Myatt and John Lang in 5th grade. John and Mike had known each other since kindergarten, but they welcomed me into their crew anyway. In 7th grade, we met Steve Gutteridge, who had gone to a different elementary school. His wacky sense of humor fit right in with Mike's, John's and my own, so he quickly melded into our group. In 9th grade, a new kid named Tim Thompson moved into town and Rincon Valley Junior High. It was clear pretty quickly that this kid was our kind of guy, and he joined us in our shenanigans. Thus is the genesis of the core group of "The Guys." By high school, I could tell my parents that I was going out with "The Guys" and they knew exactly who I meant. We share many very deep and abiding memories from our school days. Notice that I didn't use the words "poignent" or "deeply meaningful." Granted, there were some of them, but most were just memorable because we always had a TON of fun together.

Well, a few months ago, I was talking with Mike on the phone, and he said he'd like to come out and visit me. Of course I told him I'd love a visit. Well, within a couple weeks of that call, Mike told me that Steve, Tim and John all wanted to join him. Sweet. I was thrilled. We ultimately decided that my my at-home post-transplant recovery would be the best time for their visit. Once the date for my transplant was scheduled, we were able to schedule their visit. They got into their hotel late Friday night, and we spent the majority of Saturday, Sunday and Monday together.

We had snow Friday, so when they got here on Saturday morning, they immediately went to work pelting each other and shooting baskets with snowballs before even coming to the door. A couple of my kids were watching through the front window and got an early impression of what The Guys were like. Remember, these are Northern California kids who don't see much snow during the winter unless they take a trip up to the Sierras (except Tim, of course, who lives in Reno and sees plenty of snow). I gave them a tour of the house and then, because the kids had commandeered the TVs and video game consoles, taught them the joys of Ticket To Ride (TTR), one of my and Noelle's favorite games. We had lunch and made a Starbucks run to help keep them all awake after their long and exhausting drive in from San Jose, Santa Rosa, Sacramento and Reno on Friday. The weather was warming up a little, so I decided to take them for a walk on the Jordan River Parkway. That's one of our family's favorite spots and where we had our family pictures taken last October, the Saturday before I began chemotherapy. According to Google Maps, we walked about 2.1 miles Saturday, and I was pretty tired by the time we finished. The Guys bought us dinner -- take out from Cafe Rio, our favorite Mexican restaurant here in Utah. Gratefully, it tasted good to me and I ate about 2/3 of my big salad. I impressed myself, as my appetite has not been very big since returning from the hospital. We capped off the evening playing a card game called Five Crowns.

Sunday was our Easter program at Church, as our stake is having Fast Sunday on Easter with General Conference the first weekend of April. Our family decided to fast this Sunday, though, so our kids can enjoy Easter treats on Easter morning. Anyway, I went to Sacrament Meeting with my family and my wonderful mask that makes my face sweat after 10 minutes. Abby had a solo with the choir and I had to be there. The guys came at 12:15, just as I was walking across the street to my home. We played video games and foosball until the family got home, then left the four younger kids with The Guys while Noelle, Abby and I went to our stake Patriarch's home so Abby could receive her Patriarchal Blessing. That was a beautiful experience. We got home to find that the four younger kids hadn't even missed us and probably would have been just peachy if we hadn't returned for several hours. They love The Guys. We had our traditional early Sunday dinner around 3:30. Noelle made her shredded barbecue chicken in the crock pot. Put that over rice with some peas on the side...yum. Once again, I surprised myself with how much I ate...and I hadn't even been fasting. It was the first time in months that I had seconds. Granted, my two portions were a bit smaller than what I would consider a "normal" serving for me, but it definitely marked progress for me. After dinner, the kids all went upstairs to watch movies, and Noelle and I taught The Guys the card game that has been a Mann/Philpott family tradition for years. It's called "Butt Man." We had fun and were able to keep our friendships intact...just barely. =0)  I was pretty beat and worn out after all we had done and the long walk on Saturday. I began yawning some time between 5:00 and 6:00. I decided to call it a night around 7:30. I was in bed a little after 8:00. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to fall asleep until almost 11:00. I just had trouble turning off my brain.

Yesterday, The Guys picked me up around 11:00 a.m. and we headed off to Temple Square. There were virtually no missionaries to be found to provide us with a tour, so I became the tour guide for the day. I was able to answer a lot of questions they had about the Salt Lake Temple, temples in general, family history and the sealing of families for eternity, the priesthood, LDS Church leadership, General Conference, and several other topics. We enjoyed -- really enjoyed our lunch at Kneader's, which is in the mall across the street. Here are some pictures from Temple Square and the Conference Center.

It was a great day to finish off a great weekend. I'm so glad they all made the trip. Spending this time with Mike, Steve, Tim and John was good for my soul. I hope it was good for theirs, as well.

Feeling Better Every Day

The last several days have been pretty good, overall. My energy levels and strength continue to improve, and I'm eating better, too.

Yesterday, though, was a weird "off day." I had a clinic appointment at 8:30, which meant that Noelle couldn't take me. That's right when she's taking the kids to school. My brother Jeff was able to drive me to the hospital, as he works downtown. But he has to be at his office by 8:00, so he picked me up at 7:15 and got me to the clinic around 7:45. I woke up a couple hours before normal, which may have set things off. As I got out of Jeff's car at the hospital, I started to feel a little queasy. I checked into the clinic and had blood drawn for lab work. After that, I was ushered into Room 1 to wait for the nurse to change the dressing on my central line. I began to take my morning meds, and couldn't finish. My queasiness turned into full-fledged NAUSEA. I ran down the hall and made it to the clinic bathroom just in time to say a prayer to the porcelain god. Up came my breakfast and the pills I had just taken. A couple hours later, as I was meeting with Dr. Miller, my pain specialist for my neuropathy, I had another wave of nausea hit me and had to excuse myself and run to the bathroom to throw up again. Then, at dinner last night, I ate a baked potato and on my last bite the nausea hit me again. Back to the bathroom. All day, the only things I was able to eat and keep down were a couple cans of Sprite, a little rice and an apple without the peel. Gratefully, I'm right back to normal today.

What have I been doing with my time? Well, not working every day does give me some time I'm not used to having. I continue to walk a mile or more each day, weather permitting. I've finished reading the biography of Thomas S. Monson and the 9th and final volume of The Work and the Glory. Now I'm reading The Help. Noelle and I watched the movie before I went into the hospital, and I decided I wanted to read the book. I'm just a few chapters in, and it's really well written. I'm reading the scriptures more than I'm used to doing, which has been a lot of fun. I also have some goals with my music. The Church allows composers and arrangers of music to submit their music for consideration to be included in an issue of the Ensign (the Church's monthly magazine for adults) or to be put on their music website. It's been nearly 30 years since the Church released a new edition of the hymn book used in Church meetings. I would imagine that some of the best that have been submitted over the last several years will be included in the next edition. The annual deadline for submission is March 31st. I submitted the hymn I wrote on my mission: The Time is Now. Who knows? Maybe It'll be selected for something. Later this year, I also plan to publish a lot of the arrangements I've done over the years. I've got plenty of time to work on new arrangements, too.

My lab results all looked good yesterday. I just need to work on getting and staying healthy and strong. Rachael, my care coordinator, says that we're still waiting for blood samples from the first several potential donors. Finding a donor may take a while, so I have some time to get stronger and figure out how to eat more than I'm eating now.

Nothing else of real interest to report for now. I'm getting really excited for the visits of "The Guys" from high school (Mike Myatt, Steve Gutteridge, Tim Thompson and John Lang) this weekend, and my older sister, Christy, next week. I'm glad I'm feeling well so I can enjoy their visits.

At-Home Recovery Begins

I've been home now for a little over five days now, and I'm getting stronger every day. This evening, I even drove (for the first time in about a month) to pick up Abby from her friend's house. I'm nowhere near full strength, but every day I seem to have a little more than the day before.

The weather this week has been really nice. The week started with temps reaching into the low 50's with a mild breeze, but yesterday we reached 76 degrees. It was absolutely gorgeous. On Thursday, Noelle and I ate lunch in the hammocks in the back yard, then laid there for a couple hours. It was pushing close to 70 degrees and absolutely divine. I could have stayed in that hammock all day. It's going to be cooling off a lot over the next few days, and we're supposed to get some rain with temperatures only in the 30's and 40's. Winter's not ready to yield fully to spring quite yet.

As part of my recovery regimen to get myself stronger, I've been going for walks every day since getting out of the hospital. A walk around our block, including walking a court behind us is 0.6 miles. I've also mapped out a 1 mile loop through the neighborhood. Noelle and I have taken two walks a day all week except today, when I walked alone. I've walked 1 to 1 1/2 miles every day this week. Aside from getting me out in the fresh air and strengthening me for my health and recovery, it's also preparing me for the 5k we'll be walking the day before Easter, just two weeks from today. I need to be sure I can walk that far by then. I have a way to go, and the days we're going to lose to rain aren't going to help.

I'm eating alright. I've only had to take anti-nausea meds three times this week, and haven't thrown up since dinner on Monday night. The problem is I'm not eating enough. My stomach shrank a lot over the two weeks that I was on IV nutrition at the hospital, so I can't eat a lot at any one sitting. Anything fatty coats my mouth with a fatty film that absolutely disgusts me, so even Noelle's famous chocolate chip cookies don't appeal to me because of the butter that's in them. It's awful. Also, my appetite isn't what it used to be. At lunchtime today, for instance, I craved one thing and started preparing it. By the time it was ready, the thought of eating it made me sick. Noelle offered me about 50 different options, but nothing sounded good to me. I finally accepted a peach smoothie she had made and had trouble finishing all 14 ounces of it. I'm now down to about 207 pounds. I've got to find a way to stop the weight loss!

Anyway, I'm loving being home and with Noelle and the kids all the time. I've had time to catch up on a lot of reading that had been neglected, and that feels good. I have some other projects that will get some attention in the coming weeks, as well. Right now, though, the project I'm most interested in is getting some good sleep tonight. Good night.

Home at Last

I'm home.

I was discharged from the hospital yesterday afternoon around 4:00. Here's a picture of me signing my discharge papers. That was a nice moment. =0)

I'm so happy to be home and able to sleep in my own bed and eat food I would typically eat. It's great to have my kids around me. When I got home, there were a bunch of "Welcome Home" signs from them. Probably the best part of being home is having Noelle around me (like she was in the hospital), but having her have the ability to do what she needs to do during the day. Oh, and cuddling with her as we went to bed last night was pretty nice, too. =0) I didn't get that in the hospital.

I've picked up a cold somehow. I've got the sniffles most of the day, and last night I was all stuffed up and had some pasty stuff in my mouth and throat. There's a minor cough, too, but gratefully I'm not coughing up a bunch of gunk and there's no fever. I'll just be careful and keep myself warm and comfortable so the cold can run its course but not get much worse...I hope.

As you might imagine, my bed is MUCH more comfortable than was my hospital bed in Room East 808. However, because they were pumping a sodium chloride "maintenance fluid" into me via IV the entire time I was there, I had retained some fluids. Last night I was up every couple hours to pee and shed those extra fluids. After shedding them, I decided to weigh myself this morning out of curiosity, and found that I've lost about 10 pounds over the 21 days since entering the hospital...down from 219 to 209. Cancer and it's related treatments are not meant to be a diet plan (I've been told that several times by my doctors and my Care Coordinator, Rachael), but there's not a lot one can do when they're nauseous and throwing up an average of once or twice a day for the better part of three straight weeks.

Noelle and I just took a walk around the block. It's just over 1/2 a mile walk. On Saturday, March 30th (Isaiah's birthday and the day before Easter), there's a 5K in Draper we're going to walk as a family. It's to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. If any of my friends in Utah would like to walk it with us, the information is here: http://race2conquercancer.com/. Scroll down a little until you see the line that reads: 5K Fun Run/Walk - March 30, 2013 at 11 am. It will be fun and we'd love to have a whole "team" walking with us. Let me know if you have any questions or if you would like to join us. Thanks for considering it.

Cancer is not a death sentence. It's an opportunity to dig deep and see what you're made of. It's an opportunity to lean on the friendships you've been privileged to develop over your lifetime. It's an opportunity to reach Heavenward and deepen your faith in our Father in Heaven and our Savior, Jesus Christ, and feel their love and strength sustain you. Whether a cure comes or not, cancer is an opportunity to become a better and more richly blessed individual. At least, that's been my experience.

Auto Transplant Day 16

OK, so I'm posting before the end of the day. What's up with that? Well, this morning, I was given clearance to go back onto a food diet - low microbial, so no grapes, pineapple, etc, and also light on dairy products, as they can be kinda tough on a stomach that hasn't had real food in it for a while.

Also, I was told that I can go home tomorrow afternoon IF I can avoid puking and IF I can eat enough calories to show that I won't starve without my TPN (IV nutrition). That's the best news ever!!! Tomorrow will be my 21st day in the hospital this time around, so even with the typhlitis, I'm still on the short end of what was anticipated for the length of this inpatient stay.

My nausea has been under control. When I brushed my teeth this morning, though, I gagged a bit and almost threw up. I don't know if they would count that, but I don't think I'm brushing my teeth tonight or tomorrow morning. Before you get grossed out by that, just consider the old adage  "Desperate times call for desperate measures." I can't afford to have something like that force me to stay here any longer. I think I've eaten enough calories to get me out of here, too, but I'm not taking any chances. I'm eating as much as I can stand without going overboard.

So, some of my hair apparently wasn't/isn't falling out. I've been growing some hair on top of my head, so I'll have to ask a friend of mine in our ward (Matt Moore) the best way to shave a head regularly, as his head is almost always clean-shorn. Also, some of my facial hair is growing in, though much, much slower than usual. As with the top of my head, there are patches where it's not growing back, though, so I'll need to shave every few days until it looks like it's done trying to grow.

Noelle spent the majority of the day with me, and her sister, Emily, brought the kids around 5:00. We took a walk and the kids had fun with the little blue face masks. Jenna had to wear one because she might have a cold. It may just be allergies, but who can be sure? So after she put one on, the other kids (except Abby) all wanted one. I think they'll end up in the chest of dress-up clothes.

My former stake president and his wife, Doug and Cecile Scribner, are probably going to come by tomorrow around lunch time to say hello and chat for a while. It will be nice to see them. Doug was Stake President when I left on my mission and when I returned. Here's a funny anecdote... After my exit interview with President Scribner, and being told by him to remove my name tag that had identified me as a commissioned representative of Jesus Christ for the previous 24 1/2 months, I was pretty depressed. We walked out of his home office and into his living room, where Cecile and my parents (long-time friends) had been talking. Sister Scribner said to me, "I understand your girl friend is at your home waiting for you. I can tell you're upset, so let me tell you what you need to do. I want you to go home and make out with her." After two years of not even hugging a female, that was quite the counsel to hear. BUT... I trusted and respected Cecile, as she was the mother of one of my friends, and I knew her well. So, what else could I do? I had to follow her counsel. I went home and made out with Noelle. Five days later, we were engaged, and eleven weeks after our make-out session, we were married. I guess Cecile knew what she was doing. =0)

Anyway, that's it for today. Hopefully, my next post will be written from home. =0)

Auto Transplant Days 14 and 15

Good days. In an effort to decrease my nausea, the doctors took me off of two of the three "broad spectrum antibiotics" I was on, and it has helped tremendously. My nausea is at a minimum and I'm able to drink without any problems. After being told I couldn't have any more to drink (or eat) because I was still throwing everything up a couple days ago, I've been allowed to work back up to drinking "clear" liquids - that's anything you can see through, as my doctor described it. So, I've been drinking water, Snapple, Sprite, chicken broth, apple juice, and eating jello. My nausea is completely under control, and I feel ready to take the next step tomorrow, which would likely be a full liquid diet - that's anything you can drink (or eat, if it's a liquid until it's refrigerated or frozen). Hopefully, my doctors see no reason to not advance me to that step at least. The next dietary step would be a full diet. They need to see that I can consume enough calories on my own without the TPN (IV nutrition) they've been giving me before they can/will send me home. So, if all goes well, I'll be going home on Tuesday or somewhere around there.

It was kind of cold and windy, but Noelle got me to go outside for one of my walks today. The sun was very bright, as you can see from my squinty eyes in this picture.

My pain from my typhlitis is completely gone, though I still have diarrhea. That should be helped with a more solid diet. We'll see.

I really don't know what else to report. I'm still as stir crazy and anxious to go home as ever, but living with the reality of the situation. One day at a time...

Auto Transplant Days 12 and 13

Yesterday, my counts were awesome in the morning - 4000 white blood cells and 2100 neutrophils.  Because of that, they decided to stop giving me my Neupogen shots. I was okay with that. So, when my nurse and PA went into "rounds" with the doctors, I asked them to lobby for me to take a walk outside while the weather was nice during the day before rain came in over night. As I've mentioned, I've been stir crazy, and I figured a walk outside could help me with that. Well, the walk outside was approved by Dr. Konopa, and it was litterally "just what the doctor ordered." It was about 58 degrees with a stiff 20 mph wind, but man, it felt soooooo good! Here's a picture of Noelle and I enjoying the sunshine.

Other than that, yesterday was a big day, because in the morning, I was visited by the PA for the surgeon who's been guiding my recovery from typhlitis, including what I can and cannot eat and drink. He said, "Okay, let's have you go to a full liquid diet from the "sips of clears" you've been doing since yesterday evening." I was thrilled. Progress is good. So, throughout the day, I had some water, jello, chicken broth, sprite, ice cream (yes, a liquid...think about it), a bite of AWFUL soup. I didn't eat a lot, but I had some and I felt good about it. Then, in the evening, Dr. Kim (the surgeon) came in and told me that I could go to a full food diet now, but to take it easy - don't go straight to burgers and steaks. When he said that, my stomach turned, and I told him not to worry about it. 60 seconds after he left, I was puking my guts out. Fun! I told my nurse to track down Dr. Kim. He did, and Dr. Kim rescinded his earlier directions, and took me completely off of foods AND liquids! Ugh! Back at square one!

Last night, I finally got some decent sleep. Not good, mind you. Decent. That was a welcome change of pace. I did throw up a couple times, though. Once, I got up into a sitting position to put on my slippers and go to the bathroom, and that was all it took. I was grabbing for my barf bucket and letting out all of my stomach acid. So much fun. Then, after my 4:00 a.m. labs were drawn and I got up to go to the bathroom again, the same thing happened. Wow. Not fun and not fair. If I could just figure out how to stop puking and keep my food down, I'd be out of here. Oh, well.

Today's been pretty uneventful. No more puking, except for when I gagged on some toothpaste foam when I was brushing my teeth, but I don't think that really counts. Noelle and I finally finished Cast Away. We played Yahtzee. This evening, Dr. Kim came in and said we'd give things another try and graduated me to sips of clears. We'll see how that goes. That's about it for today. Good night.

Auto Transplant Days 8 - 11

Let's see if we can't get caught up today...

March 2, 2013: Day 8
OK, so the inflammation in my lower-left abdomen is causing some concern for the doctors. I had a CT scan of my abdomen done today (though I barfed up about 80% of the radioactive lemonade stuff), and what it shows is some inflammation of the walls of the large intestine near the colon, called typhilitis. The concern is that if a perforation (or hole) in the intestine wall happens, then there'll be gas and fecal matter in parts of the belly that have no way of fighting it...especially with my white blood cell count at ZERO. I have no immune system right now, no way of fighting off infection other that the antibiotic, antiviral and antifungal medicines they're pumping into me more than once a day. The bowel surgeon says it could put me into a life-and-death kind of situation. We need to ensure the inflammation doesn't get any worse, so I'm on "bowel rest." No food. No drink, except the bare minimum to take my pills. End of story. That's the news for today.

March 3, 2013: Day 9
Sunday morning, I was awoken a little after 6am and told I needed to have a platelets infusion. I figured that if it had to happen at THAT time of day, it must be important. As it turns out, the time of day was perfect, because after the hour and a half-long infusion was finally over, I was then told I also needed two units of red blood cells, as well. So, they hooked me up and we were back off to the races. After church was over, Noelle brought the kids and we hung out for a while, took a few laps around the unit, and took this picture:

I love how Isaiah is leaning on my leg. =0)

Michael and Abby both had very mild sniffles, so they kept their distance as best as they could to protect me. Poor kids. A couple of them were pretty excited to see the stuff hanging from my "IV tree" with blood in it from the transfusion. Anyway, after their visit of about an hour and a half, they took off and I received yet another infusion of platelets. Even though I'm not allowed to eat or drink anything right now, I was hungry all day. I don't know if that's a "good sign" or if it just means that I'm tired of not eating anything. I went to bed pretty early Sunday night.

March 4, 2013: Day 10

Ok, so yeah, I say Day 10, but it's really Day 14 in the hospital. I'm tired of so much about this whole thing...tired of not having energy...tired of not being able to eat what and when I want...tired of throwing up all the time...tired of diarrhea every day for over a week. (Sorry for those of you who are reading this and thinking, "why did he have to mention that?" Remember, it's my blog, and I'm writing it for me, not you.) Good news for the day: my white blood cells have finally shown signs of life. They're at 200. My neutrophils are only at 4 (they need to be at 500 before I get to go home), but both numbers should be taking a nice move forward tomorrow. A couple days ago, they began to give me daily injections of Neupogen to help my white blood cells make the comeback we need. Neupogen, as you may recall, is something my body responds well to. It's what I got over the several days leading up to the collection of stem cells - remember we were able to harvest 5 million stem cells from my blood without ever having to add the drug that's specifically designed to have them release into the blood stream. It was the Neupogen that did that for us. So, we have high hopes for all of my counts making a strong comeback over the next few days. That will help me fight off my bowel infection, too.

March 5, 2013: Day 11

This morning, my night nurse came in with my day nurses just to gloat (playfully) about how wonderful she is. You see, she's taking credit for the huge jump in my counts. My white blood cells are at 1000 and my neutrophils are at 500 this morning. That's a big jump, but we're still not quite where we need to be to check that part of things off of the list of what needs to happen to get John out of the hospital.

I have been absolutely stir crazy the past couple days...no joke, out-of-my-mind stir crazy. I have lost my patience and my ability to focus on anything for very long. For example, in one hour's time today, I went from playing a game with Noelle, to watching a movie ("Cast Away", with Tom Hanks), to playing Wii, to taking a walk to playing a game again. Noelle is being as patient with me as she can, but I know I'm driving HER crazy with my constant let's-not-do-this-anymore-let's-do-something-else behavior. She's so good to put up with me.

So, after not being allowed to eat or drink anything over the past several days, aside from a little water to take my meds, today I've been allowed "sips of clear liquids" (water, juice, Snapple, Sprite, etc.). We're trying to move gradually towards where my body can handle food again, but we're taking it by degrees. After this, I should be allowed a full liquid diet, then simple solids, then full solids. That's sort of the path we need to be on. The question is, will my body cooperate?
I think it will. One way or the other, Dr. Kim is the surgeon who is in charge of when I get to progress on that path. He's also the one who would perform the surgery on me should something go backwards from where we are now.

I have no more pain in my abdomen, which is a great step forward. That suggests that my new white blood cells and neutrophils are helping to heal my typhilitis, which, in turn, suggests that I should be able to eat and drink without trouble soon. Dr. Ford, who pioneered the BMT program here at LDSH, says he hopes to get me out of here "in the next few days."

Today, I said goodbye to Devin Holt, a nursing student who has been doing his "capstone" nursing here to finish up his degree requirements. Good guy. I'm sure he'll land somewhere great when he's done with school this spring.

One last thing...I have confirmed that my hair has indeed begun to fall out. It's time for a shave...

Well, that will actually wrap up this post...finally. I know it's been a long one, but I'm trying to be as detailed about my hospital stay as possible.

Auto Transplant: Days 2 - 7

These days could rightly be summed up with one work: NAUSEA. Sure there are/were some other aspects of these days that will be discussed, but the under-riding current is one of nausea and abdominal cramps for yours truly.

February 24, 2013: Day 2 (This is now Noelle typing for John) - Happy Sunday to me! This evening, Noelle brought 4 of my 5 kids to visit me. Michael couldn't come because he has the sniffles. It was nice to talk and walk with them and help them feel at ease about where I am and what I am doing.

This is me with Abigail, Emma, Jenna and Isaiah.

February 25, 2013: Day 3 - My nausea continued to increase and made it hard to keep my food down. My energy levels were in the dump and unfortunately, there hasn't been much relief for either problem since then. Because of my difficulty eating and keeping food down then started me on TPN. I don't know what it stands for, but the "N" is nutrition and it is giving to me via IV. Gratefully I have avoided mouth sores, to this point at least, and hope that trend continues. My blood cell counts continue to fall towards 0. 

February 26, 2013: Day 4 - I am beginning to understand why Rachael, my Care Coordinator, said that this week would be my hardest in the hospital. I'm on a rotating merry go round of nausea meds, given every 3 hours by IV. My interest in food has basically disappeared and most of that is because I don't want to throw up. I don't know of anyone who enjoys it, but throwing up is my least favorite thing to do. 

February 27, 2013: Day 5 - Today we met with Dr. Miller again. He is a pain and rehab specialist. Last week he prescribed for me a new drug called Tramadol. After a week of taking Tramadol with the Gabapentin (which I've been taking since late-December or early January) my neuropathy pain level is typically at a 0, as compared with my typical 2 to 6 pain range with Gabapentin alone. Hallelujah!!! You think I'm happy about that? Darned tootin! I basically ate nothing today, as my TPN takes care of my basic nutrition and makes it easy to avoid nausea issues caused by feeling responsible to eat. 

February 28, 2013: Day 6 - Not a whole lot to report. I have been taken off of the oral version of every one of my meds for which there's an IV alternative. That SHOULD help me avoid vomiting so much. Still no mouth sores! I'm pretty much scott-free on that one if we can make it to when my neutrophils and white blood cells really start to make their comebacks, and that's still a handful of days away.

March 1, 2013: Day 7 - my lack of a responsibility to eat has turnied into a lack of desire to do so. I've also begun to develop a pretty sharp pain in my lower-left abdomen, which can make it pretty hard to sit, stand, walk, or even lay down.Well, John...isn't that about everything? Yes. Yes, it is.=0S The pain isn't really that bad on a pain scale, but it's sharp and it's constant, which make it worse. We had an x-ray taken of my abdomen which showed nothing.. So, if the pain continues over the next few days, we'll try a different avenue of analysis.