Monday, July 13, 2009

Greetings from Day 11, post-transplant. Yes, Janice, it's official: I'm completely full of myself and as such can now be told as much by anyone, without a leg of counterpoint to stand on. I didn't really notice the transplant itself as I was pretty doped up. Slept so much during and after transplant day that it all seems rather surreal.

Pardon the delay in updating but, as it so happens, I was wrong about what's the worst part: Turns out, the "M" in "BEAM" stands for exactly what it's dialed for in the Hitchcock classic. Its effects took a while to set in, so it wasn't until Day 2 that I woke up to a tummy in which either my appendix, an Alien or the Anti-Christ was screaming it wanted the hell out. Sister morphine came to the rescue. (And she has been my constant bedside companion ever since. Purring softly alongside me now). A midnight CAT-scan confirmed it was just the "M," which, in the course of wiping out my immune system, also attacked my stomach for good measure, and pretty much anything with a mucous membrane. So my stomach got a week off and I got to enjoy the pleasures of nightly IV-dining.

In all, I've been cooped up here 19 days and am more than halfway through. Time is actually passing more or less swiftly. Meanwhile, Sammy's back from her 1st school outing. She had a blast, saw and did a lot, didn't miss home a bit, and really got a confidence booster. Already, she's up at grandma and grandpa's place in northern Germany for the week. Just talked to her and she's proud as pie to be tasting 'freedom' again.

I'm still sleeping a lot and eating well... at least, in my dreams. I've been having vivid dreams of dining at various restaurants, in California, Texas and Hamburg. Even a truckstop cafe in Utah. Then am abruptly whisked back to reality, where chocolate, cookies, pudding, saltines and chicken soup all taste like dry flour tortillas. And tonight's flour tortilla tasted like nothing more than the sparse butter and salt spread upon it. On the bright side, hey, I'm eating again, and docs and nurses say that judging by that and by my slowly recovering blood counts, I could be outta here within a week.