Day -2

Another beautiful Chicago afternoon!  Sunny 75 with a cool breeze off the lake... So I'm told.  I can see it but that's about it.  All is well inside too.  My day began at 4:00 AM with the morning drill of blood draws, vitals and weight.  It appears I'm packing it on since I'm here.  I've gained a few kilograms which I'm told is not uncommon considering the vast quantities of fluids being pumped in to me. 

The early morning hours continue to be very productive for me.  I got a lot of work done between 4-7 and then Bea woke up and we started our day together.  We had a sleepover party last night but unfortunately my IV alarms went off pretty much every hour so it wasn't very restful for her. 

Dr. Burt or as I like to say (the Wizard) came in this morning with no entourage I guess because it's a busy weekend and Chicago is almost on lockdown because of the NATO summit here in town.  We had a nice talk.  He stayed for about 20 minutes and really does his best to try to squeeze out a little bit of his massive knowledge and experience into bite size pieces for laymen like myself.  He has such an interesting perspective on this treatment, physicians and healthcare in general.

My numbers are coming down as expected.  My WBC went from 12 to 4.3 today.  By tomorrow I should be pretty close to neutropenic which technically is <0.1.  I can feel myself losing energy during the day today.  After breakfast I got my walk in for the day.  I completed a mile thanks to the support of the IV pole.  Without the pole or assistive device I couldn't walk half the distance. 

Today is the last day of Cytoxan chemo and tomorrow is the last day of rATG.  Monday is Day 0 and transplant day!  From there we will wait for numbers to rise. 

My only problem is the worst acid reflux caused partially by the hiccups and partly from the chemicals themselves.  I do feel an overall weekening as well.  Bea just returned with fresh clothes to settle in for the night.  I think tonight will see an early end as it's 6:00 and I'm almost done.  I will eat a little fish and veggies and hit the rack. 

Happy Saturday night to all!  I'm treating my wife to a dinner with me in the room.