D+9 -- Counts!

Went to bed with both Ambien to help me sleep and Atavan (anti-nausea and pro-sleep). I sleep pretty well.

I have been on an every-8-hours Zofran regimen since yesterday. It's working -- only barely nauseous when I wake up.

I get some Lasix because my blood pressure has been getting a little high, for me -- 150/80. This is a result of all the liquids dripping into me all day: Prograf, vancomycin, meropenem, magnesium, platelets (sometimes), red blood (sometimes), more... The Lasix does bring my blood pressure down to more normal, for me -- 120/70. Lasix works by reducing the amount of fluid in your body, which means I have to pee every 30 minutes.

The doctors visit, with news! My white blood cell count is 300, indicating that the stem cells I received 9 days ago have settled into their new home and have been getting to work. Tomorrow's numbers will allow us to start narrowing in on a go-home date. (I later find out that the count was 200 yesterday, but the doctors had visited before the counts were available.)

Jan and Paul visit, with treats! Seltzer, McClintock fig bars, chopped nuts, golden raisins, a mass of cards. Claire also comes by, getting in a visit with her college roomie (and me).

Around 7 p.m., I go for a walk. With the two bags of blood I got today, I figure I should be pretty peppy. I'm wrong. 1.2 miles in 25 minutes, and it's hard. And the nausea is coming back. But at least I get some good laughs from my current Kindle reading, A Walk in the Woods.

After my walk, it's time for my regularly scheduled Zofran. (Maybe that's why the nausea started to come back -- I was jonesing for my next hit.) 

Dinner, help Paul with some studying by phone, do some Illinois Marathon data work, go to bed. Although, since I spent most of the day in bed -- sitting up, usually -- it would be more accurate to say that I put my Advanta™ 2 bed into the "Bed" position and turned out the light.