Day +3

I think what I need more than anything is some patients.  Don't get me wrong, I know I can't go anywhere and I don't plan to.  Honestly, leaving the sterile environment of the 15th floor Prentise building without the benefits of IV antibiotics would be really stupid, but I've been away from home a long time now and I am just willing the days until my counts are back up and I can go.

Aside from that, my counts are still bottomed out and I can't expect them to pick up by themselves for at least five more days.  But for me, for now it is just trying to pass the time and feel as well as possible.  Until next time, stay well:)

My room for transplant

I'll talk more about the rooms in more detail later.  They do so much better here in the USA, but visa versa too.  I think explaining these differences may lead to better health care ideas in both countries.  For now, here is the video of my room.  Stay well:)

Day -7

You know, when I come to hospital I like to hope for the best but expect the worst.  So for the last 24 hours I have been trying to stay positive but at the same time I have been trying to steel my mind for any nasty surprises.  Fortunately, so far it has been a breeze but it is only my first day and I'm sure that things will get harder as time goes by.

So why was today easier than expected?  Well to start with the PICC line catheter was 100 times more comfortable than the central line catheter that I had for the harvest.  This will hopefully be a benefit that will remain for the whole two and a half weeks, and I must admit that I can't see any reason why this wouldn't be the case.

The second reason is that I didn't actually start the chemo today.  The protocol changes slightly for every patient, but I am not actually going to do any chemo until Thursday or day -5.  Today all I had was a dose of rituxan.  Rituxan is used to target B cells which are one of the five types of white blood cells or lymphocytes in the blood.  They didn't expect any side effects, and none were realised.  Well no side effects anyway, but I do think I am out of the woods now.  Tomorrow, there is no chemo again and no Rituxan either.  Instead I will have rabbit ATG, which is used to target the T cells, another lymphocyte, in a similar way to how Rituxan attacks the  B cells.

Another plus is I have a much better room than I had for mobilisation.  The best rooms with nicest view are east facing over the lake.  My room is north facing, but is probably the second best view and I have two big windows as opposed to one small window.  However, the room is slightly smaller, but this doesn't bother me at all.  I will get some video for you tomorrow.  Until then, stay well:)