Day 9--Towin' the Line

With apologies to my dear friend Lauren, Day 9 wasn't quite "divine"--but it sure beat the day before! The doctors told us that the new cells would be intensively engrafting between Days 9 and 21, and that's what's happening with Torger right now. His cell counts are starting to turn positive, and he's slowly but surely feeling a little bit better. His bones are still aching really badly, but that's from the new cells working their way in, so it's all part of the process. No more vomiting Thursday--in fact, he was able to get down a full bowl of chicken noodle soup at lunch (Dr. Tse has actually asked that he eat a lot of chicken soup), and he even ate part of a hospital dinner. He's fighting a little cold, but none of the doctors seem as worried about it as Torger is, so we're trying not to obsess over every sniffle. Torger says he's become a little worried about spontaneous human combustion, since so many of the chemicals they're pumping into him are combustible--and he's hot all the time. The nurses and I think he's just having hot flashes. His head hair and facial hair are all pretty much gone now, so he looks like a little egg. We did get a sense Thursday afternoon of why he has such a hard time napping during the day: There's a constant stream of traffic in and out of his room. The doctors, nurses and CNAs (who are all mostly nursing students at University Hospital) come in several times an hour to check his vital signs, change out infusion bags on his pole, give him medications, or check his general well-being. But then yesterday, Gail the art therapist came by for her weekly art talk, one of the off-duty CNAs came by to show Torger pictures of the pumpkins she's been carving, and CNA Brian, who was actually working on another part of the floor, came by to discuss the grade on his latest essay for his English comp class. Torger enjoys the social interaction, but he perks up so much with each visit that it's hard for him to quiet back down and take a nap! But even with the achy bones and fighting a cold, this was a good day overall. We feel like he's really making progress.