BMT: Day 19

My ANC climbed to over 0.5 this morning. If it continues to stay above this level for 2 more days, I will have officially engrafted (which is a necessary but not sufficient condition for me to be discharged). However, rather than celebrate, I ended up having a miserable day.

I developed a fever and had to start broad-spectrum antibiotics again. I also vomitted 4 times ... I got different colours with each puke too. First was pink (panadol), then yellow (gastric juices), red (blood clots) and lastly white (milk). Needless to say, I didn't hold any food down. To add to my misery, I bit the inside of my cheek this evening, which bled a fair bit. It was fortunate that I had a platelet transfusion earlier in the day or I would have bled a lot more. I then swallowed all the blood before puking it up. After all that effort to keep my mouth clean and ulcer-free, I now risk developing ulcers on the area where I bit myself.

I was feeling very lethargic all day but couldn't rest properly as I got woken up when Mr Hickman was accessed 5 times today for blood taking, blood cultures, red blood and platelet transfusions. I have now had a platelet transfusion every day for the last 3 days. The only time I smiled was when I woke up to find a nice picture of a huge aeroplane on my window. Uncle Paul, Aunty Alison and Nate had come to visit me but I was asleep. So Uncle Paul drew a cool aeroplane and a sail boat on my window with window crayons. Thank you!