Bryce
As the attendee told me this morning, “a boring day in the hospital is a good day in the hospital.” That statement pretty much sums up the past handful of days.
New Achievements Unlocked
My white blood cells have disappeared and I’m highly susceptible to infection, but I continue to feel better than I did when I arrived. During this time I earned two new badges on my door. The Neutropenic Precautions card through me for a loop, specifically “NO live plants or flowers”. How am I going to live through cycles 2-8 outpatient if I’m supposed to avoid living plants and the outside world is full of living plants? Added that question to my list for the oncologist.
Today was my last day of steroids (no swellage worth noting) and my counts should start improving in a couple days. Hair wise, I’m losing beard hair; what was once a patchy beard is even patchier. The hair on top of my head seems to be holding it’s own at the moment; I’m cautiously hopeful the Rogaine I purchased in college is paying dividends (previous post).
Staying Busy
Walking has become a favorite hobby of mine as my energy level has improved. Benefits include:
- Plugging in music and contemplating life during cycles 2-8, the next three years, and a possible new side hustle (surprise MB)
- Overhearing floor/patient news discussed amongst the nurses
- Training with Matt. Matt proposed doing 5 pushups for each lap completed and I graciously accepted his offer. I’m not sure he realized what he agreed to, but it’s been super motivating on my end. So much so that I walked 5 miles Tuesday morning and Matt earned 300 pushups
I spend a considerable amount of time on the phone each day. I’ll never say having Leukemia is cool but having 30-45 minutes to chat with to my mom each morning is. We haven’t spoken at this length or frequency since I was in high school, and it’s one of the top benefits of this shit situation.
Building a new budget (another surprise for MB!) with only one income, scrolling social media, and listening to CNBC while staring at the ceiling round out the rest of my “stay busy” activities.
Metrics that Matter
- Physical feels: 8/10 – I continue to only get 5ish hours of sleep even with sleep aids
- Emotional feels: 8/10
- Cumulative hours of chemo: 67.33
- Butt: holding strong, bowel movements have been good lately
