Joe continues steady progress.  Overall pretty good days with some nausea and other side effects at some time of most days.  

He managed to sew the back of his hat so it fit (and fixed a pillow that needed to be stitched). He also maneuvered his way to the garage to fix the vacuum cleaner.  He was disappointed that he couldn't find some silicone caulk in the garage so he could fix some pipes in the yard.  After all his years of working 60+ hours a week, he clearly doesn't understand the meaning of rest.  With that said, Mom is on him like a hawk to make sure he doesn't do too much but she is on him to  make sure he continues to take walks around the house and regain strength.[...]

Joe had a good day today!  He slept really well last night from 10 pm to 7 am.  Nausea was minimal today and he was able to eat several small meals throughout the day and stayed on time with his medications.  Vital signs were all good.  [...]

For the last two days, things have really been status quo.  Monday he went to the doctor and had a pretty good day.  They told us that he would definitely have good days followed by not so good days.  Tuesday was a not so good day with lots of nausea and other side effects.  Wednesday (today) has been a pretty good day.  We'll see if this pattern holds true for tomorrow, so we anticipate tomorrow won't be a great day.   The basic rule of thumb is that when he feels better, he probably pushes himself which wears him out and makes him not have a great day the following day to recover from doing to much.  If you know Joe, this will absolutely hold true for him!  Last night he was talking about needing to get in the garage and start cleaning it out.  I think I have held him off until some Saturdays in October when I can go over to do that and he can help me.  By then, he'll also be at the 30 day mark when he should start to be feeling better pretty consistently.  [...]

Although he doesn't feel great, sleeps a lot during the day so can't sleep at night, still has some nausea, very tired/fatigued, and dealing with some other side effects, he had an outstanding doctor report today!  They said he looked great and was doing better than expected.  [...]

Day 16 has been uneventful.  The transplant team told him to expect to feel weak and "puny" when he arrived home, and today was one of those days.  [...]

Joe is home and resting comfortably.  Still has quite a bit of nausea and the Compazine provides for a nice long nap after food.  He had a restful night and day.  Mom is waiting on him hand and foot as if she were a RN and a medical tech changing shifts every 12 hours.  That is driving him a little batty as he worries about her.  Yes, in times like this you can tell they've been married 50 years!  [...]

After 18 days in the hospital, Joe is home!  He got the green light today from all his doctors! His WBC today was 6.6, HCT was 27.0 and Platelets 27.  Limited stomach upset and not much pain in the arm.  He returns to see the specialist on Monday, September 22 to get another count reading and find out next steps with treatment and removing the port.   [...]

Joe is doing outstanding!  Day 13 post transplant and his numbers are climbing very nicely.  WBC at 7.8!!  HCT at 27.2 and Platelets at 31.  Healthy levels are WBC:  3.8 to 9.8.  HCT at 36.1 to 50.3.  Platelets at 140 to 440.  He's well on his way!  As his WBC continues to recover, it drives his HCT and Platelets.  His swelling has started to reduce as they've started giving him meds to reduce his water level.  He's officially lost 11 lbs at this point.  Dr. Vij, his specialist, came in today and said he's doing outstanding - the doctor couldn't be more pleased with his progress.  They will take his blood early tomorrow and he'll be headed home by tomorrow afternoon!  They originally told us he'd be in the hospital about 3 weeks and we're at the end of our 3rd week!  [...]

It's finally happened.  Joe said he woke up this morning and had hair in his eyes, his ears, down his back and called on trusty Earl, one of the medical techs, to come in and shave the holdout hairs off his head! [...]

Well, I'm not sure how the day started, but by this evening, he was in a great mood - laughing and joking - just like the Joe we all know and love!   His counts continue to be steady with slight improvement in WBC:  1.4, HCT slightly up at 25.5, but platelets dropped to 8.  They did give him a platelet transfusion this afternoon.  He said that really helped and he was feeling much better.  Keeping up with meds, helped his nausea and other side effects.  He was having some significant shoulder pain and foot pain today, but some morphine seemed to keep that in check.  His weight continues to increase which means he's retaining a lot of fluid. You could start to see some swelling in his legs/feet/hands today.  They are not addressing this yet until they get some of the other side effects under control.    [...]