Day +3 / Day +4

As I am writing this blog post we are already on day +5. But the day just started so I don't now how it will turn out. Only thing I can say, I got a positive response to my text message >Good morning! How are you?<.

Day +3 was the most horrible day so far. We call it roid rage day. Nico has had many steroid treatments for MS relapses. His usual reaction was increased appetite and sleeping difficulties. This time it really had a very scary effect on him. 
He first became very agitated and then kind of hostile. He told me later that he felt like he was close to a heart attack. His blood pressure was high too. He had an episode like that once before. The day after mobilization chemo. It did not last long and he was back to normal again. 
Maybe the combination of Cytoxan and Prednisolone does not agree with him very much. Only thing I can say, I'm glad it is over. Dr. Burt allowed him to stop the steroid pills right away, usually patients are being slowly tapered of the drug.

At one point he finally fell asleep for a couple of hours. As he woke up he was really confused and did not know if it is morning or evening and he had the weirdest dreams. But he felt overall much better and he had a restful night.

Day +4 started off much better. He was very alert, his mind sharp as a tack. He told me: things are happening! The brain fog is lifting. And it is true, he remembers everything and nothing passes by him without being noticed. It is very exciting to see. I hope it is not a temporary thing. He changed all his passwords to make them more difficult. I suggested to write them down for the time being. He is very adamant that that is not necessary.

We had a very enjoyable day yesterday. He was still a little agitated and I had to remind him to relax and take a break once in a while. His appetite is excellent and he does not have any digestive problems from the chemo ( knock on wood).

Meatloaf and green beans

His white cell count is zero now, but his hemoglobin was still in the normal range. I don't have the exact numbers, we did not get a printout yesterday. He was able to avoid a blood transfusion so far.

His favorite nurse Carolyn was here yesterday and she came to change the dressing on his PICC line. We had to put on face masks during that time and she took a picture of us.

He also started Neupogen shots yesterday. This has the purpose to speed up engraftment of his stem cells and to get his white cell production going. He will get these injections every day now until discharge.

Go, stemmies, go!