Tiny Theater Thursday

Ok...this is mesmerizing and creepy at the same time. I actually cringed during part of it but I couldn't stop watching it!!

Tiny Theater Thursday

Too cool!!!

Update on CarGuy and a new do!

Day +19 - 81 to go until we can go home!!! Woohoo!!!! (but who's really counting?) Well...CarGuy for one and me for two and maybe SwimBoy since he might be starting to get pretty hungry without mom home to cook for him.

Things have been going well. CarGuy's counts continue to be very low so he's pretty isolated and quite fatigued. At the clinic visit today his platelets came up from 15 on Monday to 29 today so that's a good move. The rest of his counts are continuing to bottom out which is to be expected. For those keeping track here are the other numbers:

WBC - .7
HgB - 10.7
HCT - 30.7
ANC - 400

These are his lowest numbers yet but they said the fact that the platelets came back up the way they have is an indication that the donor cells are starting to get down to business. That's a good thing too because they don't want me on their case!!

I had a fun afternoon this week! A local cosmetology college donated an afternoon of pampering for all the caregivers at the apartments where we are staying. We had a ball and I really got to bond with the other caregivers which was really nice. There's nothing like connecting with other women who are going through the same things. My stylist was more than AWESOME!! She gave me my first ever professional color and my first ever highlight. She gave me an amazing haircut that is gorgeous and then I had a very relaxing mani and pedi. We were all treated like queens and it was such a wonderful diversion. I can't imagine a better way to relieve the stress of what we are all going through. CarGuy took this picture of my new do -- I've really gotta teach him how to make sure the camera takes off 20 pounds and gives me that fresh from the beach glow -- he really doesn't have that down yet. Oh, well, the hair looks awesome...right? See that white kitchen behind me? You can safely eat off any surface in that kitchen and I'm darned proud of that accomplishment!!
Really not much else to report -- mouth sores are getting better and he still gets his mag infusion everyday. Nurse Rene is continuing to earn her pay -- oh, wait, Nurse Rene is not getting paid -- can I see the manager please? Really...what is this? Some modern day legal slavery? How can the authorities allow this to continue?!? Oh, what's that you say? Oh, yeah, riiight, that's marriage. I thought I recognized this state I'm in!! Ok...never mind the crazy woman with the syringes...back to work all...

Motorus Interruptus

So the story of where I’ve lived is pretty varied but I’ve never really lived in a city. I’ve lived in suburbs of big cities and little cities, in apartments big and small, houses of all kinds of conditions, and even spent my teen years living in the country outside a town of about 800 people. Well…now that we are in the transplant house we are in the city.

Before we got here I thought a lot about what living in the city, albeit for only 3 months, would be like. I thought about parking and safety. I thought about the noise – and believe me, it’s constant noise; cars, people, sirens, and helicopters. The apartment is very well insulated so it really doesn’t cause a problem with sleeping but if you open the windows or balcony door you can no longer hear the radio or TV.

But one thing I’d never really thought about was how people who live in the city do their grocery shopping. Not only am I thinking about it now but I’m doing it. From what I can tell about 75% of the people who shop at the Kroger here walk to the store, another 15% take the city bus (which will drop you off and pick you up right at the front door – too cool – yep, I’m easily entertained), and then the remaining 10% drive. I’m in the remaining 10% since I’m normally a suburb dweller and we can’t possibly walk anywhere except to that stupid community mail cube since the postman not only does not ring twice in our neighborhood but he will not even come to your door. Oh, my, I think I’m repressing some rage here so I better get back to my original point.

Anyway…here are some other things I’ve noticed about city grocery shopping. There are 16 of those self-check kiosks because rarely is anyone buying more than they can carry. I counted 8 regular check out lines but I’ve never seen more than 2 of them open at any one time. The store is also really compacted – just like the people around here all the goods are on top of each other. I’ve also noticed that they don’t carry the variety of items like there are at my normal suburbia store. But here’s the biggest challenge I’ve had to get used to:
Yep…shopping cart wheels. You’d think something so small couldn’t cause you such problems. Well…you’d be wrong there! These are evil wheels and purposely so. If you get too close to the perimeter of the parking lot, the wheels lock. The first (and only) time this happened to me I had no idea what was going on. I pushed and pulled and looked to see if I was stuck in a pothole. Finally the cart guy saw me and came by with this little handheld remote control thingy, pushed a button, and I was on my way to my car. Can you just imagine the pride this guy takes in his job – saving women through the use of a remote control! He explained to me that their shopping carts kept going missing so the company installed these special locks on the carts so they can’t leave the lot and I got a little too close to the invisible line.

That got my little sick and twisted mind thinking about other uses for this technology. The first thing that came to my mind is that I could attach something similar to CarGuy’s ankles and whenever he got too close to the speed shop it would disable his walking ability and he’d be unable to enter this den of iniquity and spend our life savings on another 3,000 horsepower, 5,000 cubic inch, flashy piece of mechanized bling. I’ve been working through how this would work and I’m thinking something along the lines of the Petrificus Totalus curse used in the Harry Potter world. Anyone wanna’ be my financial backer? I’m gonna’ make a fortune with this idea...right Nevell?

Tiny Theater Thursday

Tiny Theater Thursday - Easter Edition

A bit long but definitely worth it! The last 2 1/2 minutes are credits. I love this song by Nicole Nordeman. I picked up the accompaniment music a couple years ago and hope to be able to perform it at my church some year.

Easter is very special in our family this year. CarGuy has been given a new beginning thanks to a total stranger. It gives the whole concept of renewal a whole new meaning! Thanks for all your good wishes and prayers -- they mean the world to us!!

The transplant is happening!!

The cells are finally being infused!! It's pretty anti-climatic as we expected. Hopefully we won't have any excitement during the 3-4 hours this may take. They gave CarGuy some pre-meds that will make him sleepy so I'm expecting he will sleep through the process. The cells are in an IV bag that looks like the bag from a blood transfusion. The doctor brought them in a beer cooler which was hilarious.

The hubby's blood type will change (eventually) from A+ to O+ since his donor is O+. Now he and I will have the same blood type!! He really will be perfect now!! ;-) Again...there will be no living with him! I did ask the doctor if this was the cleaning and cooking DNA that I ordered and he said it was. I'm going to hold him to that -- I hope he knows that!!

On a serious note...this has been a long road and we feel so blessed that we have had so many people praying for us and caring for us through these past 8 months. We are especially grateful to our donor and we sincerely hope we will have a chance to meet him when the 2 year waiting period is over. He has given us a gift that none will ever exceed. His generosity to do this for a stranger is overwhelming us!!

Tiny Theater Thursday