T + 13

I woke up early from another broken night of sleep at the hospital. Hopefully my last one as I'm scheduled for release today.  It's been 21 days since I checked in which brings my total for the year to just over 60 total days in the hospital.  This one was both mentally and physically challenging.  The first week of chemo and anti-rejection medications made me sick.  The transplant itself was smooth, but I took on several of the typical symptoms post-transplant.  Sore mouth & throat, upset stomach, and fevers all featured in the week following the transplant.

The blood numbers have progressed as planned, first zeroing out then starting their comeback generated from the new cells.  By Friday (T+10) they had recovered to release levels.  I just needed to hold them for three days to get the official word.  Today is the third day and everything is still in line.  I do still have some mouth sores and I'm experiencing Engraftment Syndrome where parts of my body feel warm and itchy.  This is another sign the new stem cells are taking hold.

Once I'm released, I move to the next phase of the process which is to get to day T+100 which will involve several visits per week back to the Cancer Clinic where they will continue to test my blood levels and transfuse any liquids that are off.  At day T+30, there will be a test that will determine what percentage of my blood is getting produced by the new cells verses the old.  They will also perform another bone marrow biopsy to test for any return of leukemia.