Skip to main content

Day +24: Discharged from the hospital

When we checked into the hospital on Halloween day, we understood it would be a lengthy stay.  The discharge date was based upon how quickly the engraftment process progressed, and specifically based upon blood count levels.  Our mantra has continued to be “one day at a time”.

Monday November 30 is that magical milestone discharge date, with our hospital stay ending at an even 30 days.  Over the past week, my WBC count has increased steadily from 0.1 last Monday, 0.3 on Thursday, 0.9 on Saturday,  1.5 on Sunday and 3.1 today!  It’s impossible to describe how much better an improving WBC count makes me feel both physically and emotionally.  I couldn’t be more excited to breathe some fresh air, sleep in an actual bed and eat some home cooking.  Our next stop is to move into the nearby apartment we rented for the next 60 days or so.

Upon discharge, I’ll continue to return daily to MD Anderson but rather than to the hospital I’ll be an outpatient visiting the Ambulatory Treatment Center (ATC).  At the ATC, they’ll continue blood testing and react to any deficiencies and new symptoms.  I’ll most likely continue daily platelet and electrolyte infusions as my immune system continues to recover. These visits will gradually reduce.   My main job is to eat and sleep well, exercise as I’m able, and most importantly stay infection and fever free.  While November was the month in the hospital, December will be a month living in a bubble.  I still have a good Netflix/Amazon/HBO queue but always interested in your suggestions.  The Queens Gambit and the Social Dilemma were my most recent watches and both are highly recommended.

Celebrating this milestone and continuing one day at a time,

Gary


Comments

  1. kjsimpsonDecember 1, 2020 at 7:18 AM

    Such great news!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownDecember 1, 2020 at 9:30 AM

    Great News. Your movie interests sound similar to ours. A couple of documentary movies that we enjoyed - "The Battered Bastards of Baseball" and "Ford vs Ferrari". Happy Holidays

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nort and SusanDecember 1, 2020 at 10:38 AM

    Great news Gary, we know you are strong and focused. Here are some Netflix shows: The Spy (series), The 12th Man (movie), Hillbilly Elegy (movie). Enjoy!

    ReplyDelete
  4. MarkDecember 1, 2020 at 9:07 PM

    We are so happy to hear the news. So very cool! I suggest Godless, Ozarks, rewatching Star Wars and Harry Potter. That should keep you occupied for a day or so. The Stahls

    ReplyDelete
  5. RSDecember 5, 2020 at 10:33 AM

    Great news!! We are so glad to hear that you are feeling better each day. Some bing worthy ideas. An older one but great Breaking Bad. Ken’s fav Walking Dead, Whit’s new fav Last Kingdom a bit like GOT and I have been watching Elementary. We pray you continue to Thrive!

    ReplyDelete
  6. CaroleDecember 7, 2020 at 6:00 PM

    Great news. Add The Undoing to you watch list.

    ReplyDelete
  7. UnknownDecember 8, 2020 at 2:15 PM

    Awesome!!!!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Story

 Hello Family and Friends, Thank you for following my blog and your love and support over the years and especially now during my Journey to a Cure.  I thought I would start this BLOG by telling my story and how I got to the point where a bone marrow transplant is the next best step in my cancer battle.  And hopefully a long term, durable cure. In September 2008, during a routine physical exam, my white blood cell count came back unusually high. The next month was busy with many doctor appointments, tests, learning, and ultimately a diagnosis - at the age of 44 I had cancer and specifically CLL or Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia.   CLL is usually an older patient disease, a slowly progressing disease, and at the time already had some good treatment options.  Many CLL patients never need treatment and I had the “good marker”, 13q deletion to be technical. CLL is not hereditary (although my Uncle Marc did have CLL later in his life) and like many cancers the exact cau...
8 comments
Read more

The Process

In prior posts, I’ve referred to the “process” of the bone marrow transplant.  And quite the complex, multiple step and lengthy process it is. The first step is to repeat a series of outpatient tests to confirm that I’m fit for the transplant.  This is ongoing for the week of October 5th at MD Anderson.  At the end of this testing, I will get a central venous line (CVC) inserted for the next steps and ultimately the donor stem cell infusion. I’ll check into the hospital on October 10 to begin the second step which is referred to as “conditioning”.  This involves chemotherapy to bring your immune system to zero in order to prepare for its replacement with the donor’s immune system.   During this time, the donor will be going through a procedure called Apheresis to harvest his stem cells from his peripheral blood. The cells will be cryogenically frozen and transported to MD Anderson.  The donor cells were collected on October 7 and now on the way to Houston. ...
3 comments
Read more

The End of the Journey

I've been reluctant to post this final entry in my Journey to a Cure blog.   My journey began in October 2008 when I was diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) during a routine physical.  Over the ensuing 14 year period, I've gone through 4 different treatment protocols and a stem cell transplant.  While I never let cancer define me, it consumed a lot of my time and energy over these 14 years.  To be honest, I rarely thought about life after cancer as it just didn't seem achievable.  Therein lies my reluctance, but I'm going to say it out loud for the first time - I'M CURED OF CANCER! Somebody pinch me, I must be dreaming. After my hospital stay for pneumonia in March 2022 and a case of the flu in May 2022, my health surprisingly took a positive turn in July of 2022.  During what had become a routine check up, my blood test results showed that I was starting to create my own white blood cells.  My immune system was finally coming back ...
Post a Comment
Read more