Day 212--Wow! That Went Fast!

Torger's second hundred days post-transplant just zipped by. The first hundred days, with the long hotel stay and constant appointments, seemed so monumental, but the second hundred days passed while the calendar largely just sat in my desk drawer unmarked. Either we've really started to slack, or life is getting much closer to normal. We go down to Denver tomorrow for another bone marrow biopsy to check for any signs of the leukemia returning, and then we're hoping Torger won't have to have another biopsy for six months to even a year. He's gotten pretty sly about wheedling Dr. Tse into giving him what he wants. Each visit, Torger plots to ask for something...scaling back the infusions, reducing the number of weekly blood draws, etc. And usually, he's pretty successful at getting his way. Two weeks ago, we were able to stop his magnesium and saline infusions entirely, which is a huge step. That process has been a huge pain in the rear for both of us...mostly for Torger, who had to haul the pump and saline bag around the house for three hours a day. He still has the Hickman catheter in his chest, so I'm still flushing his lines with heparin every night, but we think they'll even be taking the catheter out soon. Torger's been a good sport, but he admits it's hard to sleep with the catheter's three lines and associated hardware all poking him in the chest. He also persuaded Dr. Tse to take him off his blood pressure medication, which they'd put him on because of all the other drugs he's taking. Torger's never needed blood pressure medication before, and Dr. Tse agreed that there's no point in keeping him on it now. In fact, they're so NOT worried about Torger's cholesterol that they've instructed him to drink whole milk instead of skim and to eat at least a couple of eggs a day! Apparently, his body needs protein and fats right now, and since he's still struggling to keep his weight up, he gets to eat all the ice cream he wants these days. Not too bad, eh?