Day 15

I got out of the hospital on Wednesday. I'm dog tired because of the sleep deprivation that goes along with a hospital stay. The most sleep you get is a 2 hour nap, that includes nighttime. Between all the fluid that they pump in you causing you to go to the bathroom and the nurses waking you up to check your vital signs, you just don't get to sleep. As a result it takes a few weeks to catch up. I can fall asleep now at the drop of a hat.

I'm currently in the ATC clinic which is where I will go every day for the next couple of weeks. Yesterday I got my last round of Rituxan for awhile. Today I'm just getting magnesium.

The anti-rejection drug, Tacrolimus, strips the body of magnesium which is an important element for the bone marrow. So I get magnesium pumped back into me. They will start me on magnesium pills soon, too.

My blood counts have zoomed up since engraftment. I would call it a very strong response. Now we play the waiting game. Waiting on the chimerism test on Day 30 and GvHD. Some GvHD would be indicative of the new cells fighting the disease. The problem is that too much GvHD can be deadly. Hence the close monitoring of the Tacrolimus level and the daily trips to the ATC clinic.

Well today is the big day - the Tech - Georgia game. I just don't see Tech having much of a chance in this one. But I would have picked LSU over Arkansas, and Texas over A & M. So what do I know? The Arkansas game was one of the best I've ever seen. Arkansas is 7 and 1 in overtime games now. And they have played in the two longest games. Oddly, the Arkansas fans want to get rid of Houston Nutt, the coach. Maybe we could arrange a swap for Gailey. I would still like to see Bobby Johnson of Vanderbilt get strong consideration for the Tech job.

It's unusually cold and rainy in Houston. No snow, though. LOL