I suppose this blog may be getting pretty boring because the main event of my day today was sleeping! Good for me, bad for the enthralled reader I woke up with a dull headache, which I’ve had for a couple of days now. I’m not allowed to take Tylenol because it could mask a fever, so my choices for headache relief are Oxycodone, Morphine or Dilaudid! Knowing that all three make me sick and/or knock me out, I decided to try a tiny dose of the oxy and within 5 minutes I was puking. They then spent the next hour giving me three doses of Ativan to try to stop the nausea. In between all of this, my poor friend Kelli came to visit. It was great to see her and she brought me some wonderful goodies. Unfortunately she got the honor of the being the first person to get to be here while I’m puking! After she left, they gave me that lovely ant-nauseau medication that they gave me last week that knocked me out cold until 4:30 in the afternoon. My dad was also here somewhere in the midst of all of that, but it’s honestly a bit of a blur.

Regardless, I woke up well rested and felt much better. I was able to eat the hospital version of fish for dinner and a couple of bowls a really yummy granola. Then my brother and Steph came to visit for a while.

My white count is down to 0.2 and expected to hang out there for a couple of days. They’re very pleased that my other counts remain normal, except for my platelets, which have dropped but only to the 50s. While I was doing the clinical trial, my platelets were often in the 50-70 range, so having them there is pretty impressive given that they just went through chemo. We’re hoping I’ll squeak by without needed too many (or any at all) transfusions. Anyone following along for this whole thing will recall how little my body likes platelet transfusions! If they hover where they are now and then go up, that would be wonderful.

Mentally, I’m letting myself think a little bit more about Christmas. I’ve avoided it because I didn’t want to end up being disappointed. I think I’ve also envisioned myself going home weak and weary, but I don’t think that’s going to be the case. Right now, I’m still running a little on the treadmill and feel fairly normal most of the time. Making it through this low point and feeling good should yield good things for the days ahead. Right now the mask doesn’t even bother me that much. Of course if my hair falls out, my attitude could take a major turn – so let’s hope that doesn’t happen!!!

And lastly, a big thank you for the laughs a few of you sent today. Robyn, I can envision the rotting avocados; Melly, love the jokes, especially Zack and Alex’s; and Fran, I can’t get enough of the nerd humor! Love you guys.