T+16

I'm sitting here and waiting for the nurse to come in and tell me what today's counts were. In the meantime, things have been changing. They switched me from TACRO IV to mouth yesterday. That's one less drip I have going. Tacrolimus is an immuno-suppresant. I'll be taking that one for a while. They've also discontinued the TPN drip. That was the IV Nutrition I had. There's only one stipulation for that one, I must eat and drink. Staying properly hydrated is crucial since the Tacro and other drugs can harm the kidneys. I'm still getting IV anti-biotics, IV anti-fungals and IV anti-virals periodically during the day. These will all be switched to orally administered drugs. They've also cut back significantly on the Zofran (anti-nausea) mainly because I haven't really been nauseaus. We'll have to see how that goes.

If all goes according to plan, I should be home for the weekend. I'll have to see the doctor twice a week for a while, and then it starts tapering off. Once I get home, though there will be some strict rules regarding what foods I can and can't eat. Fresh fruits and vegetables are off limits. Anything cooked in a home kitchen -- as long as it's cook well -- is ok. No restaurant foods. No supermarket prepared foods. (Autumn, I'm pretty sure your meatballs are on the OK list! G, your chicken soup is there, too.) I'm also going to have to limit the number of visitors until I get stronger. Mom (the warden) says that "visiting is by appointment only and no longer than 20 minutes."

OK. My counts came in and my WBC is 2.0 -- the same as yesterday. They told us that there would be plateaus. I also did a lap around the hall. My doc said he wants 5 laps today. That's it for now.