Day + 8, Pain

Disclaimer: If this sounds like a drugged up rambling... it's because it is! I'm doped up on Ativan and 1 gram or Tylenol right now!

As Friday night arrived, the bone pain had spread into my shoulder blades, neck and ribs. The Tylenol no longer appeared to managing the constant aching I had been experiencing over the last 36 hours. To understand the bone pain that I had from the Neupogen shots is very hard to explain. The closest analogy that I could make to how it felt would be as if somebody hammered a nail deep into the center of every one of your bones. It affects you at such a deep level it hampers your ability to think straight.

Last night was hell. I got about 4 hours of sleep, and I was constantly waking up due to the pain. During the night I had my temperature checked at regular intervals, for I need to be extra cautious about infection while my blood counts are low.

By time we had arrived at the hospital at 9 am this morning, I was literally in tears due to the lack of sleep and agonizing pain that nothing appeared to get rid of. I was looking for something strong to get rid of the pain. I was begging the nurse not to give me another "G-Shot", as I didn't think that I could handle another 24 hours of this crap.

I never got the shot. And I didn't need to. Before the shot was administered, they ran a lab on my blood to see if the shot would be necessary. And wouldn't you know it... as of this morning, my white blood cell count jumped from 0.6 to 2.5, which puts me out of serious danger for infections. I was so relieved... let me tell you.

This means a couple of things. First, I can stop taking all of the antibiotics. Next, it should be safe enough to go back to my apartment again. That's my plan for tomorrow.

I get tomorrow off from the hospital, but will need to come in for a little bit on Monday to get more blood tests. It is expected that my new stem cells will 'engraft' sometime this weekend, and that I enter the next phase of recovery next week.