Day +2

 Hi guys,

I think my updates will probably be briefer than they have sometimes in the past because frankly, there's not much happening. The chemo is out of my body, it's done its work, and now we're just waiting through the discomfort of the chemo and falling blood cells counts. You should consider no news, good news. Unlike the hospital stay over the summer, I'm not waiting for any tests or diagnoses, and I draw the line of sharing with you my ins and outs like I do with the doctors. 

We write my blood cell counts on the dry erase board every day. They're currently holding steady, but they should start to fall within a day or two. My nurse last night said that they fall to zero for most myeloma patients. That's absolutely wild to me. Thanks to all the blood donors out there!

I got my stem cells back on Friday. The process lasted about an hour, but it went by really quick. I had two nurses and a blood bank person in my room. The person from the blood bank prepped the frozen stem cells, one nurse manned a computer, and the other squeezed the syringe of stem cells. I had expected that the stem cells would be at room temperature, but that wasn't the case. I ended up getting floaters in my eyes, and I noticed at the end that I'd lost color in my fingers. It was cold, but within a few minutes, I was fine. The last two days have been unremarkable except constant trips the bathroom due to the fluids they gave me on Friday.

The stem cell preservative smells like cream corn, apparently. All of the patients off gas the stuff for 48 hours after transplant, and while people say it's not a bad smell, I'm starting to feel crummy enough to think I'll probably develop an aversion to it. I'm already developing an aversion to the taste of the tap water.

Because this post needs a picture, I'm waiting for my turn with the washer and dryer. Enough cream corn for me.