Day 14, A Beautiful Day

Sunrise over Lake Michigan, Day 14

 Today began with a beautiful sunrise over Lake Michigan which actually woke me as the sun came streaming into my room. I leave my curtains open each night as I enjoy watching the illuminated U.S., Chicago, and NU flags flying on top of the Northwestern University Law School building outside my room as I go to bed. And I look forward to seeing the sunrise each morning.


The day continued to be just as brilliant and I enjoyed the unusually large number of private motorboats, sailboats, and sightseeing boats weaving around the harbor as well as the huge freighters plowing through the water far out on the lake. And . . .  I received the good news from my doctor that barring any unforeseen issues, I would be going home tomorrow!!! Whoopeee!

My blood counts while still quite depressed are no longer considered neutropenic, or abnormally low. I am still very susceptible to infections and will need to be very careful to follow good hygiene to avoid them. To that extent, Terri and I will also be following a quarantine/confinement of limited interaction for the next few weeks until my counts are stronger. Home health care will be out 2 times a week to check my blood counts, vital stats, and general health to be sure all is well. I will also be going into the outpatient clinic weekly for a checkup.

Today my grandson Drew also had his adenoids out at Lurie's Children's Hospital just across the street from me. He and I had the chance for some Face Time from our hospital rooms. What fun as we haven't talked much since I went in to the hospital. His procedure went well and from what his mom told me, he was having so much fun playing in the full size fire engine afterwards that she thinks he forgot about the surgery. Of course, the orange popsicle and Cars movie he enjoyed while we were talking might have helped, too. Hope he is still feeling well tonight.

I wasn't that lucky until later in the day when Terri and Andrew came to visit and brought a French Dip sandwich, sweet potato fries, and a root beer for supper. The first day with the first supper that has tasted so delicious in almost 2 weeks. And I ate almost all of it. A visit from Pastor Joe Schultz of our city church, Edgebrook Lutheran, topped off the day. So now I am just looking forward to the final details and the likelihood that I will go home tomorrow. Please pray that all goes well.

Oh, and there has been one other change. As with my last stem cell transplant, my hair did fall out so I decided to shave it all off. Here's the new look. What do you think? It will be interesting to see how it grows back. Now I see where some of my grand kids got their ears. :)

Who is this?