Day 17
Yesterday was too busy to write, but it is now early Saturday and John is asleep in his bed again here in what passes for home for now. Sixteen days from transplant is pretty close to a record for release from the hospital, but he was ready. John's key counts (WBC 3.27 and ANC 1.89) almost doubled from the day before. He is managing nausea, taking pills and eating adequately, even though everything tastes like tinfoil.
Terry Fike is a cousin who lives in eastern Washington. He and his wife Nancy drove to Seattle yesterday to visit a friend whose child was recently born with spina bifida. We were able to connect via cell phone and the two of them, through traffic and determination, met us at the hospital entrance for John's "graduation." John doesn't warm to new people quickly, but he did to them, which tells you what good people they are. It was great fun to share the moment with them. Terry may be able to connect with us again in early July.
Debbie stocked the kitchen with soft, bland foods and John ate some egg noodle pasta for dinner. He wants to graze the grocery today to see what he can find that he might be interested in eating. We have a clinic visit this morning and then a home visit from a nurse who will teach us how to use his new portable IV pump. It comes with its own backpack, so he will have mobility and maybe the freedom to go out, looking perhaps like a skinhead with black sunken eyes for added effect.
When we got home yesterday, the realization of having responsibility for a transplant patient home from the hospital became real to me and pretty overrwhelming. There are medication schedules, doctor schedules, constant observation for the most subtle changes and also the need to give John room to be himself without anyone hovering about. He closed the door to his room for an hour or two and I wanted to make sure he was OK, but (with Debbie's good guidance) let him settle back into his space again.
I'll soon have to wake him to take him for his clinic visit, so it's back to the routine from before for a while.
Terry Fike is a cousin who lives in eastern Washington. He and his wife Nancy drove to Seattle yesterday to visit a friend whose child was recently born with spina bifida. We were able to connect via cell phone and the two of them, through traffic and determination, met us at the hospital entrance for John's "graduation." John doesn't warm to new people quickly, but he did to them, which tells you what good people they are. It was great fun to share the moment with them. Terry may be able to connect with us again in early July.
Debbie stocked the kitchen with soft, bland foods and John ate some egg noodle pasta for dinner. He wants to graze the grocery today to see what he can find that he might be interested in eating. We have a clinic visit this morning and then a home visit from a nurse who will teach us how to use his new portable IV pump. It comes with its own backpack, so he will have mobility and maybe the freedom to go out, looking perhaps like a skinhead with black sunken eyes for added effect.
When we got home yesterday, the realization of having responsibility for a transplant patient home from the hospital became real to me and pretty overrwhelming. There are medication schedules, doctor schedules, constant observation for the most subtle changes and also the need to give John room to be himself without anyone hovering about. He closed the door to his room for an hour or two and I wanted to make sure he was OK, but (with Debbie's good guidance) let him settle back into his space again.
I'll soon have to wake him to take him for his clinic visit, so it's back to the routine from before for a while.
