Back to the hospital, again, Day -6

Steve had a week of freedom. He worked hard at walking and trying to put a few pounds back on. He saw some progress by the end of the week. Steadier on his feet. He went three days without throwing up, although still having a problem with nausea. A blood transfusion on Wednesday did perk him up a bit, helped with the dizziness. Thursday and Friday were relatively good days for Steve.

Friday, he checked back into the hospital, again 4th floor Collins. They started the transplant countdown yesterday morning, so this is day -6. After a dose of the first chemo in this series, they gave Steve two units of blood and a unit of platelets.

His cousin Jim from Galveston, born the same night Steve was, came for a quick visit. It was good to see them and hear them talk about their college days. A bit of normalcy.

Steve can have visitors, as long as they are not sick and wash hands carefully before entering the room. It would be good for him. We don't know how thess chemos will affect him, but for now he's OK for company.

We have become friendly with several transplant patients there. L, who has the same diagnosis and was diagnosed at the same time, is two weeks out from transplant and was looking much better yesterday than last week. M, who had a cord blood transplant less than two months ago when they couldn't find a matched donor, had a failure of the new system to take hold, so is scheduled for another transplant early June. By huge luck, a donor showed up on the lists in the meantime. We are rooting for both of them.