Thursday, July 16, 2009

I'm out.

The docs came in this morning and said that my blood count today was such that this was the first day they could release me with a good conscience, but of course I was welcome to stay a few days more to recoop. Asked 'em to start typin' up my walkin' papers, and I got a'packin'.

As of 3:15 p.m. CET today, I'm once again a free being*, master of my domain -- meaning this great big wide world and no longer the same freakin' four walls of quarantine. Give thanks and praises; the worst is over. Now comes the slow but sure road to regeneration and recovery.

(* free "being" rather than "man" as I'm not quite sure whether I currently qualify for the classification "vertebrae." After 3 weeks in bed, I'm more like jellyfish or squid. Muscles feel like pudding. Arms and legs swollen Popeye-like, eyes swollen all buggy-like. I'm holding water, but this too shall 'pass'.)

Writing this post on BBerry from a grocery store parking lot, where Anke's inside diligently hunting down my wish list of things to eat. She made me sit in the car, bless her, so I don't overdo it with the walking. I can't describe the joy of looking out over the fields across the street, watching cars go by, or people-watching as they go in'n'out of the store. Absolutely banal life going on, but I'm enjoying every second of it.

We just got back from McD's, a place I go once in a blue McNugget. The taste and smell of the chemo and stem-cell antifreeze in my mouth and nose is so strong that any food automatically takes on that same flavor, rendering nearly everything at worst inedible and at best disgusting. So I thought McD's is the one place where the smell of the food eradicates all scent forms within a five-mile radius, and would surely neutralize chemoflave. So I was wrong, but managed anyway to force down the first solid food I've had in 3 weeks (cheesebugele, cola and thrice-salted fries). Looks like I'm in for thrice-daily battles like this for 6 to 8 weeks, when the doc said the taste'll finally dissipate. 'Til then, can't even taste chocolate, my post-chemo staple. Lame.

Shopping done, so heading home now to just walk barefoot in the grass for, say, 2.5 hours. Will post this later tonight. But not too late. Haven't had a good night's sleep since Monday (Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop injecting morphine).

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Back online to post this, sign off and head to bed. My own bed. Life is good.