Numbers and Other Updates

   According to my doctor, I am doing well.  For those of you curious about the physical side of things, here is where I stand on some important numbers as of yesterday's appointment:

White Blood Cells -- 4.19  Red Blood Cells -- 3.52  Hemoglobin -- 10.2  

Platelets -- 216  Neutrophil Absolute -- 2.11

   For those of you who have no clue what those numbers mean, here is the quick synopsis: in each of these important categories, I am trending upwards.  Everything in the blood is looking good.  What about other things health wise?

• I am still too skinny.  I weigh 160 pounds, more than 20 pounds under my normal weight.  I have no appetite yet and have to still force myself to eat or drink.  I have to start gaining weight soon.
• I still get tired easily.  My walks are short, but slow (just like how I was as a basketball player).  Stairs and/or hills just about kill me.  I nap most days, and while I feel little day-to-day progress, I sense that from where I was one week ago, things are getting better.  I said to a friend that this journey is not about turning corners here and there, but more like rounding gradual bends here or there.  
• I am still not allowed to drive much.  I am allowed to go for five-minute trips but that is about it.  Connie is fine with this stipulation.  She loves driving, especially now that she bought me the surprise of my life.  She had told me that when we lick cancer, we can buy another pick-up truck.   (I drove the mini-van around this past year because my last truck, a 2000 Toyota Tacoma with 240,000 miles, finally had to give up.  She was a good girl, but she had to go--the truck, not Connie--and I sold her for $1000 about a year ago.)  But then I was sincerely surprised when Connie picked me up from the hospital in a 2016 Tacoma that she had bought while I was incarcerated!  She says it is mine, but she is currently driving it...all the time.  But when I get the doc's approval to drive again, I have that gift waiting for me (P.S.: Connie, you are the best.  I think you have gone beyond being a Proverbs 31 woman.  Maybe you are a Proverbs 32 woman!)  
• I am often chilly.  I wear a jacket and hat most days, making it appear as though it is October in my house and not June.  Yesterday was a cool day around here and I was in sweatshirt-and-jacket mode.  I even thought about breaking out the long underwear.  
• I have been cleared to go to Family Camp at Upper Peninsula Bible Camp in about a month!  This was a surprise because we stem-cell transplant folks are asked to stay within one hour of the hospital, to check in frequently, to stay isolated.  The fact that Dr. Williams has cleared me to go is exciting news.

   So, the numbers look good.  My complaints are few.  My frustrations can still get me down from time to time but things are slowly moving in the right directions.  Today is Day +33 and I have been told that I must stay diligent about gloves/masks/meds/staying away from groups of people for the first 100 days after transplant.  God continues to bless.  If everything goes according to plan, I will never have to take another round of chemotherapy in my life.  And one of these days I get to drive a really cool truck.