Thursday ~ 10 September: Day 54

Wow, another week has passed. I am happy to say my red counts are looking better. On Tuesday my platelets had reached a count of 171 and my hematocrit had gone up all on its own from 29 to 30. This is good news. And you know what it means? I will likely not need more red cell transfusions, unless GvHD comes up when my blood type is changing over. But no more just for maintaining. We are thrilled.

My whites were down, but still in the normal range. I have no fever, but they think I might be fighting off some low grade infection, so they are watching me. Even though I will only be seeing the doctor once a week now, I still have to go twice weekly to the OTU clinic for labs. Did have to get magnesium by IV on Tuesday. I will be interested to see what my counts are tomorrow. Another thing they are watching is a possible rash on my hands and arms. It's very minor, so hopefully it will stay that way.

Sally came up Tuesday for Mike to go back home to get some work done there. They are trading places again this afternoon and he should be back shortly.

Yesterday Sally & I went to Home Goods and Michaels. I walked around Home Goods (part of the store only), but when we got to Michaels, she wheeled me around in the wheelchair shopping cart. I sure was glad. The store was in much disarray being rearranged and we had to do a lot of backtracking.

We found a few things on clearance, but mostly what we got was for Halloween. Finally picked up those Martha Stewart window silhouettes of the witch stirring the kettle and the spooky tree. I want to put those in the living room windows at home. I also want to make her Head Waiter Tray. It's been on the website for a couple of years or so and I think it's pretty cool. I needed some decopage medium for that. Another one of her ideas I'll be using this year is the green glass glitter skulls. Found some styrofoam skulls a little bigger than a softball, as well as the glitter and the glue. And did you know they make glow-in-the-dark glitter??? Halloween is one of my favourite holidays!


While in Michaels I had an episode where I thought I was going to be very ill. Sally said I turned fire engine red and was hot to touch. And I felt so sick and was tunnel visioning. She wheeled me to the water fountain and I put my wrists under the cold water. After a few minutes and much mental fortitude it finally passed. That took a lot out of me, but after resting for a few we finished our shopping there and persevered onward.

We were down in the Brentwood/Franklin area and decided to go check out some of the antique malls. The first one was too antiquey and not enough collectibles. And the second turned out not to be air-conditioned. The third one is one we've been to many times, but I wasn't able to spend much time there. I was just worn out. All in all we were gone from around 9:00a-3:00p. When we got home I ate a cheese sandwich and went to bed for a couple of hours to recoup.

All in all I've had a really nice visit with Sally and will be anxious to see her the next time she comes to stay with me.

namasté,