My Bone Marrow Transplant: Day 13

LOCATION: Vanderbilt University Hospital - Stem Cell Unit
DATE: 8.27.12    DAY: 13
MOOD:   Good!
MENTAL STATE:  Feeling much clearer headed today.
PHYSICAL STATE:  Best I've felt in days.

Slept a decent night's rest and was awoke at 7:45a by the nurse practitioner making rounds.  Felt better today than I have in days and my body no longer aches.  The attending doctor brought with him good news.  My white blood count (WBC) had been showing up on the report as <.01 which means the counts were not even registering.  This morning my count was .01.  Although low, it's a definite sign that I could have started engraftment.  Great news to receive...and as soon as day 13?!

I needed platelets that morning too so the nurse started them around 8:00a and ran them slow as to prevent another reaction.  They finished around 9:30a and I felt fine.

My mother showed up around 9:45a and we spent nearly 3 hours trying to get paperwork caught up.  The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society offers financial assistance for patients diagnosed with a wide variety of blood cancers.  My disease, aplastic anemia, falls under myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and qualifies me for assistance with my insurance co-pays and prescription reimbursement up to $5,000 a yar. A truly wonderful benefit to help financially, however the paperwork must always be completed once a year.  If you or anyone know sees an oncologist or hematologist for a blood disorder, I would strongly suggest a visit to the LLS website.  They are also very friendly to speak with on the phone.  A transplant patient who receives an matched unrelated donor (MUD) is also eligible for a $1,000 grant from National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP) and I applied for that too.

Grabbed a name around 1:00p and worked on the blog for awhile.  Also did some stretching exercises hoping to start the regeneration process of the muscle mass that's been lost.