Transition out

After weeks of isolation in a hospital, life in the outside world seemed farther and farther away. The nurses at Northwestern were beyond competent. They were also kind enough to chat with me and listen to stories about my life as well as share some of their own. They made me feel less alone.

More importantly, they did their jobs so well, that I had no complications. Smooth sailing. No infections. Successful engraftment. This all led to me being released by Dr. Burt on day 10 after stem cell infusion.  This best-case scenario saved me thousands of dollars in hospital time. Since I paid up-front, I should get a bit of a refund.

But with hsct,  even smooth sailing is no picnic. I experienced the initial nausea/barfing of the chemo,  then, the discomforts of getting my stem cells back.

As is typical of this procedure, I had extreme deep bone pain as the stem cells started to engraft back into my bone marrow. My engraftment occurred quickly, so I had fewer days than others in that painful state. I gutted it out without narcotics. Meditation, tyelenol and my own unusually high pain threshold got me through without crying.  I've been following the blog of a gentleman who went to India to have a similar hsct procedure done. He paid a fraction of what I did, but he's had problems, including a full-body skin rash. He's now into day 12 of engraftment with continuing bone pain. He is crying, and I wish him well. Hang in there, brother.

When Dr. Burt came into my room and said I could leave on day 10, it was a day earlier than I expected. Good news, except that I wasn't yet emotionally ready to leave.  The nurses were tolerant of me muddling around, delaying departure from a hospital room that seemed like my home.  I finally got packed, left and checked-in at a nearby hotel.

I think it was a combination of the bone pain and the emotional stress of leaving the hospital that brought on a pretty severe MS-like attack, locking up my legs again in spasms over the past 14 hours. Presumably, my frazzled nerves are no longer being attacked by  a bad immune system, but there is significant healing ahead of me now. Improvement can be expected over time.

In the meantime, it seems my leg spasms are abating. I should be OK for flying back to Minneapolis today.