24 Days and OUT!

Karmanos 8th Floor Hall 0239, originally uploaded by Buck Cash.

So, after spending the past 24 days in a hospital bed on the 8th floor at Karmanos getting chemo and my stem cell transplant, I'm OUT, and boy am I GLAD!!!

That's just TOO TOO LONG! LOL!

It's all left me pretty nauseous, mostly because the chemo has mucked up my senses of smell and taste, so nothing's quite right in the food department. The bland hospital food was especially bad, and I mostly stuck to sweets like Jello and pudding and ice cream, while they fed me nutrients via IV drip.

First thing yesterday when I got home to Aunt Aggie's, mom fixed me up some good old fashioned and simple mac and tomatoes, and it was delicious and stayed down just fine. Later, I had coffee and cinnamon toast with butter, and it was good too. With each passing hour away from the IV drip and hospital, I feel like my taste is getting back to normal, even if I am pretty sick to my stomach.

I'm about ready for a pizza with everything! LOL!

The photo is a shot of the hallway just outside my room at Karmanos. Walking that hallway in a circle 16 times = 1 mile, and I tried to do at least half that much every day, so this got to be a pretty familiar sight to me.

I'll update again when I'm feeling better, stomach-wise. Till then, I'm just glad to be out amongst the living again!

A Week of Chemo at Karmanos

Research 2946, originally uploaded by Buck Cash.

Well, it's December 3rd, 2012 and I'm sitting in a hospital bed at Karmanos Cancer treatment center in Detroit, and all's well. I've been here for nearly a week, since being admitted last Tuesday. During that time, I've had some kind of chemo every day, and sometimes a couple of them per day, all in preparation for my stem cell transplant. I finished the last one this morning.

After getting the last of the chemo, I was freed from the IV for awhile, so I took a shower and went for a walk around the 8th floor. I did a half a mile, and settled back in to relax again.

Most of the past week, I've been sleeping, probably because of the Benedryl that I get with the chemo - it keeps me pretty sleepy, so I just go with it. Food smells and tastes not so good while on the chemo, so I've lost a bit of weight over the past week as well, about 10 pounds or so, but that's okay too. All in all, I feel just fine.

For the rest of today and tomorrow, I get a break from everything, and then on Wednesday, it's the big day: Stem Cell Transplant Day!!! I think it's basically just another IV drip, but this time it'll be my stem cells, rather than chemo, saline or blood. I doubt it'll actually be more exciting than that, other than the knowledge that once that's done, it's all about recovery and getting on with my life again, which I'm very much looking forward to!!

The photo for this blog entry is of my microscope. I just thought it'd make a cool photo. I shot it a couple weeks ago while in between hospital and doctor visits.

That's about it for now. I'll update again sometime after the stem cell transplant.