Um....I am such a slacker.... yes I know

So, really there was this thing that happened yesterday that is called a brain lapse............ Hence no blab. Sorry. But, here's a twofer for today. Twofer.... ha ha... remember when burger joints had "twofer" deals. like they actually called them that... awesome.

Anyhooo.... your twofer today is just two days in one blab entry. yay for fun.

So, yesterday was my first day back at the clinic. Not too busy, just a blood draw and then a meeting with my "team" so they could check me over and make sure that I was really ready to be out and about. Full clearance. I am apparently doing SO SO good. Wish that would manifest more in the way I feel all the time, but patience is key I'm being told. One bright spot of the team meeting was that Dr. F, who was my practitioner at the hospital for the good majority of my time there, is now my Dr. here. I think I wrote about him before, or maybe my madre did. He is the one from Costa Rica. He's hilarious. So, that was fun to have the same practitioner. Consistency is a good thing. Anyway, they tell me that I have great "numbers". 

Numbers...... Let me esplain. Everyone has a certain number of blood cells in there body. Thousands of white and red blood cells, platelets, etc...... Going in to this whole process I had high numbers just like every other healthy human being. What happens is, during chemo and such your numbers fall. Now, for the reasons of transplant, they WANT your numbers to fall to zero. Cause then the new stem cells they give you will not have to fight for space. They can move in with their little suitcases and dress bags without too much argument. So, my numbers dropped down to zero and I had to have a couple platelet transfusions, but that is all and well, totally the purpose. Then, after the transplant, my numbers actually got larger and larger quite quickly.  My white blood cells (specifically my neutrophils, which are a type of white blood cell) are back up to the point that I am fully engrafted. Engraftment is when the stem cells you are transplanted with start creating blood cells. So long story short, my numbers are awesome and my body seems to be accepting my transplant quite nicely at this point.

Now there was some mention in one of my mother's blogs about GVHD. This is a diseases called Graft Versus Host Disease. This happens after a transplant when your body fights the new cells. I mean really, like your body isn't going to notice when they transplant a new person into you..... Dr. F. called my Neutrophils my Marines. It's a good thing that I have so many since my transplant so if my body decides to fight the new stem cells, the new stem cells will so win. Well, we can hope. I have not gotten GVHD yet, but they say that 75% of transplant patients do get it. Whether bad cases or mild cases. So, that's one thing we are watching out for right now. We can always pray that I will stay in the "unique" realm of the world and just skip right over that part of the transplant process... Yes? Yes. That would be nice.

Anyway, enough of that. If there are questions, let me know. After the meeting at the clinic my mom and I chilled for a bit, checked out the roof top gardens here at PGH, ran to a few stores and then home to crash and burn for the night. I get SO worn out SO quickly these days. Today we had an early blood draw and then we came home. I do have to still be hooked up to IV Fluids once a day for four hours every day, but it is easy. We just hook me up here at home and put my infusion pump and the fluids bag in a backpack so I can run around and do whatever while I am hooked up. It is much nicer than being hooked up to that big tall tower of metal like the one at the hospital. So, I was hooked up today for four hours and now momsy and I are watching My Fair Lady. Love. B&B are coming over tonight to play some games and just generally chill, that will be fun. Other than that today is just a hang out day. That's enough for today don't ya think? yes. k.... buh bye.