On Friday evening I was finally discharged from the hospital! No more inpatient for now.

However, David has to hook me up to IV antibiotic infusions three times a day. This means hook up at 6am unhook at 8; hook up at 2 unhook at 4; hook up at 10 unhook at midnight. Then we have to go to clinic every morning for blood labs and any infusions needed. Mostly the infusions have been magnesium and potassium. I have not needed blood products for over a week. My important blood counts, red, white and platelets are all trending nicely upwards. Which means engraftment has significantly taken hold. Praise the Lord!

I also take 6 pills every morning between 8:30 and 9 and have to give myself a blood thinner injection in my belly. The regimen makes for a rough morning for me. I am usually tired from not a great night’s sleep, from abdominal cramping from eating more solid foods (which is good but my gut has to readjust) and from just general fatigue. Can’t say I am a joy to be around in the morning. But most days after the clinic time, I perk up and the afternoon and evening go better. More pills, another belly injection and final infusion at 10pm.

When I was inpatient, we met a young man (18 years old) named Liam (from the mountains of NC) who had a stem cell transplant only four days after me. He (and his mother) were an inspiration to me as I saw him recover and get stronger quickly. He was tall, bald and raced around the hall with his IV pole. He released the day before me. May God bless you with a long and cancer free life Liam.

One day when we were walking the halls, we saw our first nurse from my clinic time with Dr. Wang four years ago, Orlando. While I was treating for the first Lymphoma, Orlando left the clinic to work in the hospital. He said the hospital hours would give him more time with his family. It was nice to run into him and chat for a few minutes. May God bless you and your family, Orlando.

Motivating to be active, do exercises and walk is a struggle for me right now. I feel weak and don’t feel like I have the energy to do anything. It is really hard to need to get moving but feel like just sitting, especially as “my time” just for me doesn’t happen until 4pm due to all the IV’s earlier in the day. Prayers in this area would be appreciated.

A neat thing to share: Being from the Detroit area, as a child we always drank Vernor’s Ginger Ale (made in Detroit at that time) when we had a tummy ache. We called it “sick pop”. My own children knew Vernor’s as “sick pop” too. My Michigan family would bring Vernor’s to me whenever they drove to KY for a visit. (Thanks Family!) I could occasionally find Vernor’s in Rapid City at Family Fare. I would order it from Amazon. There is no Ginger Ale like Vernor’s. I was craving Vernor’s while in the hospital so I googled where to buy it in Houston. One of their major grocery stores (H.E.B) carries it but as we soon found out not every store had it in stock. So David found one near the hospital that has it. Today we bought the last two twelve packs on the shelf. I drink it in small amounts and stir the fizz out of it. But boy does it taste good!!!

One of my doctors the last week in the hospital was a Michigander, saw the Vernor’s can and commented that he had just returned from a Michigan visit with his kids where they enjoyed Vernor’s. He asked where we bought it in Houston. We were happy to share our find and a can with him.

So the regimen, I shared at the beginning of this post is to continue for at least 2 1/2 more weeks. Hopefully I will get stronger over that time. It is a bit overwhelming to have medical stuff still dictating EVERY day, but one day soon this will end. Hopefully in the next three weeks! As always we appreciate your prayers for me and for my fabulous caregiver, David. He has been AMAZING! There is no way I could have gone through this time without him by my side- this is what ‘in sickness and in health’ means. He has to be my nurse, cook, laundry guy, encourager, grocery runner, pill picker upper, prayer warrior, devotional reader, driver and so much more.

Until next update,

Love Kay (and David)