Journal 2/29
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Thirteen days post transplant. Yesterday started out good.
I woke up
feeling good. Counts continue to come up and looking forward to
leaving the
hospital soon. I rode my bike for about 10 minutes, did 10 pushups,
and
about 20 squats. I try to do something everyday to maintain some
strength
and stamina.
The afternoon brought about some
challenges. I have been hooked up to a PCA which delivers pain
medicine through my Hickman. Fentynal is a narcotic and I've been
using it and a narcotic called dilotid over the past couple weeks
for
pain. As my counts return the need for pain medicine has decreased.
I decided yesterday to stop the pain medicine all at once. This
was very difficult. I went through withdrawals and experienced
a tremendous amount of anxiety and
discomfort. I basically felt absolutely miserable all afternoon
and evening.
In addition, the nurse gave me some Milk of Magnesia to loosen
my stool and I ended up getting a horrible case of diarrhea. Between
the diarrhea and the
anxiety I was feeling from narcotic withdrawal, the afternoon
and evening were tough. I hope for a better day today.
The doctors continue to talk about sending me home on Thursday
or Friday.
The cabin fever continues to increase in severity. I'm ready to
go.
Overview of my blood counts:
| Hematocrit |
Yesterday(26%) |
Today(27%) |
Normal(34-55%) |
| Platelets |
Yesterday(17,000) |
Today(14,000) |
Normal(150,000) |
Neutrophils
(Poly's) |
Yesterday(1000) |
Today(1,880) |
Normal(7,000) |
| WBC's |
Yesterday(1,200) |
Today(2,900) |
Normal(7,500) |
MJ & Bonnie visited yesterday. As usual, they were on their
bikes. Jill
Palmquist stopped by and kept Michelle and me in stitches the
whole time. She
just cracks me up.
My prayer will continue to be for patience. The patience to
wait through
these next few days before going home. I want to hold my boys.
I want to go
in their rooms to play with them. I want to snuggle with them
before they go
to bed.
Verse I'm thinking about today:
Relieve my troubled heart, and bring me out of distress. Psalm
25:17
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