Visitors

Joe and Tom and Scum visited today. It’s nice to see family and friends. We had a good time and played our way through a game of Munchkin which Tom eventually won. For some reason Tom also had an itching for Jack in the Box (as I call it Jack in the Crack) which they got lost finding for lunch. And they like good uncles they brought presents for their nieces Molly and Kassie.

I’m feeling really good. About the only pain I experience anymore is when the nurses doing my port cleans pull a little to hard on the lines. And the whole port comes out in the next week or two probably. Tomorrow my Mom comes in for the grandma swap off. They’ve been great throughout the ordeal.

Looking back on the year its been a lot different then expected. I found pretty much my ideal job at EDFUND managing software developers for a non-profit company, Molly showed up a little early as a bundle of joy, and all the Gibbs brothers got together for Joe and Ghen’s wedding. Then of course the cancer relapse, RICE cycles, and the stem cell transplant. I realize I spent 29 days in the hospital, almost an entire month in the last 3 months. I’m very, very glad to have survived everything intact and be happily back in remission. Cancer though is a bitch. As I ring in the new year I look forward to a lot of things.

  • Finishing the stem cell transplant and going back to work
  • Micki finishing the BAR
  • Molly’s first birthday
  • A trip to the redwoods in March/April
  • A Gibbsmen trip.
  • A new niece or nephew to be a fun uncle too
  • My birthday Jan 31
  • GT winning the Final Four (well I can hope)
  • Many more exciting adventures

Went for a Walk Today

After 24 days inside, I got permission today from my doctor to go for walks. I took him up on it this afternoon and walked for about 25 minutes with the new iPod. It felt great to stretch the legs again. I actually sweated, which I haven’t done since I had a fever. For the statisticians my WBC is up to 1.6 and my platelets are up to 66 so I’m in little danger of bleeding to death. I can feel my vision expanding again. It’s less day to day and more what am I going to do next week or next month. I’m looking forward to a trip to the redwoods in Northern California. I always had trouble believing that picture of the highway going through a redwood tree, and now I finally get a chance to see it.

I feel exceptionally lucky to have gone through this pretty much unscathed with a great amount of help from my wife, my Mom, my Mother in law, my Dad, my Father in law, my brothers, all the members of Gibbscrew, the many people at EDFUND who have only known me briefly, and the neighbors here in East Sac who have baked for us, babysat the kids, and generally raised our spirits. I’ve even been helped by my little 4 year old nephew who drew me a wonderful robot picture for my hospital wall. Then my doctors and nurses who have done there jobs and more.

And tonight I have a favorite job to do, Micki and Joan are making me cookies, and I am in charge of quality control. You have to sample at least 1 or 2 from every batch with a large helping of milk.

Oh I even got my story added to a site to encourage blood transfusions.

3 Weeks

The doctor just came by, and said I could go home tomorrow assuming when they pull my antibiotics today that I don’t develop any fevers! Yes, escape!!! If it works out Dec 28th would be exactly the day I predicted for getting out. I’m doing my happy dance now, and no it won’t be recorded.

Last Night Pictures

I figured I haven’t posted many pictures of my adventure due to a number of factors. One being I didn’t have my digital camera with me. My backup option was an iSight video camera, which takes sort of blurry stills, and some effort to get the stills out. And then I was too tired to do all the work of adding images. So here are some sights of my cell:

Feeling better and wearing a hat.
Kassie’s calendar on the left and my exercise bike.
The view out my window of another wing of Sutter and I-80.
The bandage over my port that will come out in a few weeks.
The pump I’ve been attched to for 22 days.

Day 20

My WBC is up to 0.8. No major news today. Since my counts leveled off I’m looking at going home later in the week, but they could still suprise me. I’d really like to go home, but I’m trying to be patient. I should actually get to do some coding today, which will be nice for a change.