BMT: Day 23

This morning's blood test revealed that my ANC was over 2.5, which is well into the normal range. It means no more of those nasty GCSF injections every evening which made me scared of the nurses. The GCSF injections helped my new bone marrow speed up its production of neutrophils to shorten the length of time that I am neutropenic (when risks of infections are greatest). I guess the 22 painful injections I had are worth it now, and over time, I will come to trust the nurses again!

I am taking an additional oral medication now, which is magnesium. I have to take it three times a day to boost my magnesium level, which along with my blood pressure, is affected by the cyclosporine medicine which I have to take for the next six months or so. Mummy, Daddy and Grandpa tried the magnesium and agreed it tasted foul. Since it leaves a nasty after-taste, Mummy gives me another sweet medicine immediately afterwards to take away the taste.

Apart from having to take all my medications orally rather than through IV, I felt fairly good today, and am ready to go home. I drank a bit more milk than yesterday, and didn't have any problems to report of. If I go home on Friday as planned, my stay in hospital will be exactly 40 days (taking into account the one day home leave I got at the start). Since that is the low-end of the range my transplant doctor told me to expect, I (and everyone else) are very happy with results thus far. The doctors have all commented on how smooth things have gone for me. It hasn't felt very smooth from my perspective, but I guess it is not so bad relative to what most others go through with a cord-blood transplant.