My Journey 10/26/10

I got sprung!  Not really, but the doctors gave me the ok to come home.  I spent five days at Brent's Place.  Its about five blocks from PSL.  Went in on monday and had my blood drawn for testing.  Went back in on Wednesday for more labs.  I got my results on back from the Monday labs and sure enough, my counts have come up so much that the doctors thought it would be a good idea that I come home and see how I cope.  So wednesday evening I came home.  I've been holding off on writing for a couple reason.  One, I wanted to see how I felt being at home in altitude.  And two, I need to be carful being around anyone being flu season and all.  So far so good.

Let me tell you how nice it is on sleeping in my own bed!  Aside from sleeping really well, being home has felt really good.  It took a little bit of getting use to not having to get up every four hours to have my vitals checked, blood draws done at midnight, peeing in a urinal, being attached to an IV pump 24 hours a day (I called it my pump buddy).  Last night I had one of the best night sleeps in a long time.  Without any drugs!  I cant explain or recommend just how important it is to get a good night sleep when you are recovering.  But I guess anything is better than sleeping in a hospital bed for a month.  The altitude definitely makes me want to take more naps but thats ok.  My body just went through hell.  Its going to take some time to recover.  I did a little test friday night to see just what kind of road im going to have in front of me.  I hauled up about eight five gallon water bottles up the stares and that pretty much did me in.  I have no strength, endurance, or stamina.  Ill be honest, it was a little disheartening.  But I have to keep reminding my self that I just went through a transplant.  Tomorrow will be day +28, 4 weeks ago.  Not a long time.  Its going to be a long road for sure.  I guess what im saying is that im trying to be as patient as I can.  Going off how im feeling at this moment, I feel pretty good.

Having a couple days to reflect on the hospital experience has been a bit overwhelming.  Its seems like it has gone by relativity quick.  Its been emotional.  Its been surreal.  I feel so fortunate for so many things at this moment that its hard to not be grateful for everything in my life.  It hasn't been easy up to this point, and I dont expect it to be easy from here on out...