Home, Rest Assured, And a Life, Unobscured
Day n/a (I'm home)
Blogging Tunes: SomaFM Groove Salad
Of course my counts skyrocketed faster than the team anticipated. We've done this before and we'll do it again.
So at about 1:30p PT yesterday (Mon, Oct 11) they removed my PICC Line, I did the mandatory 30 mins rest, started packing up my shit, and by about 3:00p or so, I was heading back to Marin. Thanks for the ride, Beeks!
Gear packed
Zach (the Flyers fan!) wheelin' my gear
jg and Beeks in the GTI 6-speed -- nice ride, Beeks!
Getting home after being in the hospital for 25 days straight is so surreal, I can't even tell you. Just sitting in my own living room -- not connected to a bunch of tubes constantly giving me meds -- and sitting back chilling, was simply amazing. Here are a few pics:
Last night I got the best sleep -- about 9 continuous hours -- I've had in months. Even before UCSF I wasn't sleeping well... maybe related to my blood going bad? But in UCSF, I probably averaged (yes averaged) 2-2.5 hours of sleep at a time. Sometimes if I was lucky, it would be 4 hours. Imagine getting interrupted every few hours -- even in the wee hours -- for 24 nights straight. That's what I was dealing with.
Home with Brown, Heather, and Katniss; getting ready for baseball
Katniss bathing and Brown... measuring something?
Orion enjoying some tortilla soup
When I woke up at 5:30a today, I felt like a different person. Hopefully this is a sign of high energy days to come. Can't wait to get back to swimming, riding the peloton, hiking, and (yes) working!
A few more things before I sign off.
1) Next steps for treatment: I need to get labs (blood) drawn tomorrow but I don't need to go to UCSF for it; I can do it at Quest in San Rafael. Then I have video call with Dr. Damon (or delegate) on Thursday. Assuming all is well, I'll go to UCSF next Monday or Tuesday for a bone marrow biopsy so we can see if I've achieved a full MRD remission. Assuming I did -- why wouldn't I? -- we'll start planning the logistics and timeline for the second stem-cell marrow transplant: likely late Nov or early Dec.
In between now and then, I'll likely have to some out-patient consolidation chemo. This can likely be done at Marin Cancer Care. Last time I did this I was riding my bike to these appointments. "I'm here for my chemo" (with bike helmet in hand) -- some of the people looked at me like I was from another planet.
My home meds situation is pretty manageable for now. It's nothing like post-transplant when I'll be on all kinds of immuno-supressants, anti-virals, anti-fungals, getting magnesium, etc. Still, at my request, H got one of those dippy old-person's AM/PM pill boxes:
2) Kitchen destruction remodel is in full swing. As I type this blog entry, here's what's going on:
bye-bye foyer tiles
wide-angle kitchen/foyer war re-model zone
You've done this before and you'll do it again, one step at a time.
ReplyDeleteBack home, thats awesome!! One big step down, you'll get through the next steps just like you did before! So glad you get some time to recharge.
ReplyDeleteGood luck buddy, pulling hard for ya from CO
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you got some great sleep! Keep up the good work, JG! We are rooting for you!
ReplyDeleteThere you go! Glad to see you back home. You got this.
ReplyDeleteGreat to see you back home! Lets do virtual bike ride if you have the tech to do it.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you're back home!
ReplyDeleteI can relate to the biking to chemo thing. I took a lot of pride in being able to do it, and people indeed did look at me with my bike helmet at the Berkeley cancer center like I was crazy.
Dude, you are rocking your ANC! Rockstart bounce back, I have a feeling this means you took this round very very well. Onward to the next poke in the lower back (i always asked them for some drugs to make the afternoon nap after the biopsy more fun).
ReplyDelete