*(Day +55), Monday, (July 5th) was not a very good day. Turns out I have meningitis and pneumonia. They’ve put me on antibiotics to fight it but I’m nervous about both. I haven’t had any more fevers so I’m hoping that means the antibiotics are working. I’ve also started gaining water weight again. When I left the hospital it only took me like three days to get back down to my normal weight but as soon as I was re-admitted they started giving me too much fluid and I gained ten pounds in one day. Just in water weight. My feet are so swollen I can’t fit my shoes on. I have to wear slippers or flip flops. None of my regular clothes fit so I’m back to wearing my fat girl clothes. I look like a pregnant woman. My head still hurts but I’m trying to take less pain meds so that I can get out of here faster. I’m really getting sick of being stuck in this room.

*(Day +56), Tuesday, (July 6th) has been a great day so far. I got up around 8:30 and ordered breakfast. I took all of my morning meds and got my labs back. My counts are looking great. My platelets were 16,000 (my normal before transplant was 4-6,000). My Hemoglobin (red blood cells) was 9.3 (my normal before transplant was 6-7). My ANC was 3300, which is in normal range! My white blood cell was also 4.6, which is in the normal range too! It’s so great to see my donor cells making progress and growing. My cellularity is normal (from donor cells) and the donor cells seem to be taking over nicely. The only downside is that I still have pneumonia and meningitis. Thankfully I haven’t had fevers for awhile and I’m on antibiotics so I’m not contagious. I’m also still having problems with the swelling in my legs and feet. My headache still isn’t gone but it’s getting better and I’m hoping to leave the hospital in the next few days.

*(Day +57), Wednesday, (July 7th) was a great day. My counts came back and they were all really good. We also got the results from my second bone marrow biopsy. My results showed that I’m 100% donor cells from one donor. Meaning one of the donors has taken over 100% and is now producing cells. This basically means the transplant worked! I still have to deal with infections and meningitis and pneumonia but this is very encouraging. I felt really good today. I even walked down to the lobby and outside to the mailbox to mail something. I got some funny stares as I walked by with my bald head, hat and pole with all of my machines. I’m starting not to care. I’ve also been walking laps around the unit to get some exercise and show the docs that I’m ready to leave. Sometimes I don’t even bother to cover my bald head. I’m starting to get some fuzz but it’s hard to tell what color it’s going to be. I’m hoping for blonde. We’ll see.

*(Day +58), Thursday, (July 8th) was another great day. I got up early and made my own breakfast and got my own laundry. The doctors decided that I’m doing well so they gave me a pass to leave the hospital for a few hours. This was perfect because we had some friends coming in town. I started talking to a woman from New York named Elizabeth who has a 9 year old son named Alex who also has DC and is getting ready to transplant within the next year. They flew out here to meet with Dr. Tolar, who is also my doctor, to talk about transplant. I’ve grown close to them so my mom offered to pick them up from the airport this morning. She brought them back to the RMH and then they took our car out to the Mall of America. We met up with them for dinner at the RMH. The dinner was really good! Someone caters food every night and some nights are better than others. Tonight they had ribs, grilled chicken sandwiches, cole slaw, tons of fruit, homemade mac and cheese, tons of sweets and drinks. After dinner Alex and I went and played in the Arcade room. Alex beat me. Then we played bingo. They have an actual bingo machine and tons of really cool prizes. I was the only one at our table who didn’t win anything. That’s okay, considering all of the prizes were barbies and action figures. It was really nice to be able to get out of the house. Except for the puffiness and weight gain, I feel fine. I’m hoping to get a pass to leave tomorrow too so that we can take them to Midtown Global Market. We went there before transplant and I blogged about it with pictures. Hopefully I’ll get some pictures tomorrow if they let me leave. Everything seems to be going well today, hopefully it continues.