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 Kim rescinded his earlier directions, and took me completely off of foods AND liquids!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.