Transplant Day +3 & +4

Yesterday was my hardest day so far. I felt so tired from the moment I got out of bed in the morning, and with the tiredness came boredom and a heavy depressed feeling, crushing my entire soul.

The frustrating thing about being so tired and "chemo-brainy" is that it's hard to focus on anything which means books and movies are out. It was also the first day I didn't have any visitors until Jean came for supper and I think I just had too much time alone with my thoughts.

Yesterday evening I also started to get a lot of stomach pain, cramping, bloating and nausea. I didn't get sick or anything, but I felt pretty darn close, so the nurses gave me anti-nausea medication through my IV line.

This has continued throughout today as well.

It seems like anytime I eat something, within about 15 minutes I will start to feel sick, bloated, cramped, and gross - like my stomach is shouting "RED ALERT: WE DON'T HAVE THE CAPACITY TO DEAL WITH FOOD RIGHT NOW! ABORT! ABORT!"

My food is staying down though, so at least I'm getting the nutrition my body needs.

Today has been a better day as far as where my mind is at. I still feel really tired and headachy with bouts of bloating and nausea, but today was the day Kaitlin came!! She was able to get time off work for the last week of school and will be staying at my parents' house in Langley so she can visit me every day until I get out of here. Seeing Kaitlin walk into my room this morning was one of the best feelings I've ever had in my life and I was on the verge of tears as I hugged her. What an incredible sense of relief. I love you so much, Kaitlin!!

The day was still pretty low-key of course. We talked for awhile before eating lunch, and after some laps around the ward, we snuggled up in bed to watch The Polar Express. That lasted about 20 minutes before we both fell asleep. Like I said before - What would you expect when you put a stem cell transplant patient and pregnant lady together!?

Kaitlin left in the late afternoon to head back to my parents' house, and since then I have walked a few more laps, put up some Christmas window stickers, and eaten dinner. I'm still feeling pretty tired and my bowels are not happy, but all-in-all I am still hangin' tough.

Tomorrow not only will Kaitlin be here again, but my two good friends Brad and Anna are coming over from Victoria to visit me for the day as well! SO EXCITING!

 Some Blood Stats 

WBC Normal Range....................4.0-10.0
Hemoglobin Normal Range.......133-165
Platelets Normal Range.............150-400

Note: My hemoglobin was already a bit low going into this, due to the GDP-R chemo I did this fall.

DAY -6 (CHEMO)
White Blood Count...................?
Hemoglobin..............................?
Platelets....................................?

DAY -5 (CHEMO)
White Blood Count....................6.5
Hemoglobin..............................118
Platelets....................................255

DAY -4 (CHEMO)
White Blood Count....................7.2
Hemoglobin..............................115
Platelets....................................263

DAY -3 (CHEMO)
White Blood Count....................5.0
Hemoglobin..............................109
Platelets....................................244

DAY -2 (CHEMO)
White Blood Count....................4.0
Hemoglobin..............................109
Platelets....................................218

DAY -1 (CHEMO)
White Blood Count....................3.2
Hemoglobin..............................118
Platelets....................................239

DAY 0 (TRANSPLANT)
White Blood Count....................2.9
Hemoglobin..............................113
Platelets....................................212

DAY +1
White Blood Count....................5.1
Hemoglobin..............................103
Platelets....................................239

DAY +2
White Blood Count....................2.2
Hemoglobin..............................108
Platelets....................................180

DAY +3
White Blood Count....................0.4
Hemoglobin..............................117
Platelets....................................185

DAY +4
White Blood Count....................0.1
Hemoglobin..............................114
Platelets....................................119

As you can see, the chemo is quickly killing everything off. And at the same time this is happening, somehow my new stem cells are making their way back into my bone marrow where they will eventually begin to become new blood cells. I've been asked why the chemo doesn't kill the stem cells in the process too, and I have NO idea.

That's all for now. The only other thing to report is I am still meeting my goal of walking at least 5 km per day and have now walked a total of 55 km, or 440 laps. I'll probably get up to 56 km before bed tonight.

Thanks for reading,
Christopher