They say it's your birthday!

Ok, technically it was Monday, but I haven't really been feeling up for much this week.

Here's a recap:

Sunday was a horrible night. Then Monday night got even worse...with kind of a big deal in between.

Monday morning around 10am my stem cells were transfused back to me. It was actually all very anticlimactic, and only lasted for about 30 minutes. I was completely exhausted and nauseated, but still managed to take my new "self" for a little stroll around the halls with Todd before going back to bed.

As Monday went on, my nausea got worse and worse. Nothing I put in my mouth ended up staying in and non of the anti-nausea medications seemed to be touching it. Monday night when they came to do vitals, they discovered a fever of 101.9, which set into action a flurry of blood work, chest x-ray, cultures, etc. and a phone call to the on-call physician.

After all that, Tuesday was a very slow day. I did nothing but sleep, or at least it felt that way. I've honestly never felt so just sleepy before! I am now on two different anti-biotics, an anti-fungal, anti-nausea, a scopolamine patch, and steroids, too. Along with another handful of pills...not wonder my stomach is so queasy! My temperature is back down to normal, and (knock on wood) today I've not needed my puke bucket at all. Not to say I don't still keep it close by, but these things take time.

It's been a week now of being in the hospital, which seems to have gone by fairly quickly, probably because I've been so miserable the whole time...and since today is only +2 (day zero is transplant day) I've got at least a good week left.

My counts this morning still show that I'm totally depleted of white blood cells, and the guess is that tomorrow I will probably require a red blood cell transfusion, which seems to be right on par with what is expected. Now is time to shower while I'm still unhooked from my IV pole and maybe take a little pre-dinner nap :)

Gotta pass the time in some way

My dad, uncle and cousin took a quick detour on their
motorcycle trip to visit me on Sunday morning

It's happening!

This is the stem cell guy. He basically brings them in and
thaws them. Big job, I know.

My new cells going in

My BFF never left my side

Todd and I during the transplant

So now I have two "birthdays". October 8th, 1979 AND June 11th, 2012!

The Time

I started this post a week ago when we got to Chicago again...then things got a little crazy and I never finished it. I'll post it anyway, but just know it isn't exactly a complete account of really anything.

No, this post isn't about any girlie time so don't worry. I've really been bad at keeping this up...and I am still totally blaming Facebook! I think anyone who actually reads this is probably friends with me on FB and already knows what's been going on. I'll do my best to catch you all up, though.

The neupogen shots were HORRIBLE. Well, not the shots themselves, but the joint pain was more intense than I even know how to put into words. For anyone who knows me I'll just say this, I let Todd push me around (in public) in a wheelchair. So there's that.

We managed to have fun with Mason in Chicago, though. I thinks it's safe to say the kid has been introduced to city life...and was very ready to go back to his "blue house" and yard!

My stem cell collection was more than amazing. Dr. Burt only requires 2 million for the transplant and I collected over 29 million in just 4 hours of the machine. After that news, we changed out flights home as soon as we could!

Just like everything else on my treatment calendar, my hair fell out right on time once we were home. And by saying it fell out in clumps doesn't even do it enough justice! We wasted no time in buzzing what was left off, and even Mason joined in on the fun. I have to admit, he looks pretty darn cute with a buzz cut :)