I'm sitting in my kitchen, on my laptop, watching a marathon of America's Next Top Model on Bravo. Yesssssss.
I set a new personal best for discharge after transplant. Last time I got out Day +17 after transplant, and this time it's Day +14. Unfortunately I didn't get the all-time record for the hospital, which is Day +8, but that is insanely early. I'm happy with Day 14.
Of course I have to give a big thanks to my donor, the mystery man of 27 who was nice enough to give me some of his bone marrow. His cells started growing really quickly and I have rock star blood counts.
But a lot of credit goes to me, too. I kept eating the whole time, and eating well, I ate the calories and protein the nutritionist wanted me to eat. I was careful about infection precautions and didn't get sick. I did proper mouth care, I pushed myself to start taking pills again and get off the IV medication, which might have been the hardest, because I have gobs and gobs of pills to take and it's a big production to get them all down, I got out of my room and walked around the floor every day, even when I felt really crappy. And of course a lot of credit goes to my wonderful friends and family (including you guys!) who supported me during the worst part.
The mouth and throat sores are much better, but now the problem is that my taste buds have mostly fallen off so nothing tastes right. A lot of things don't have any flavor at all - super weird! You stick food in your mouth and you expect it to taste like something, but no, it feels like my tongue is coated in plastic and I'm chewing packaging noodles or something equally tasteless. Tomato sauce has been the best thing, fruit juice is okay, but otherwise I'm really at a loss for what to eat until my taste buds grow back. Last time I had trouble with things tasting funny too, but I don't remember it being this bad.
OK, back to shallow TV and brainstorming food ideas.
11 comments:
Yea your home! Yea yea yea yea! When you feel like some chocolate chip cookies my mom will be happy to start baking. Yea!
Great that you are HOME!! YAYY!!!
And thanks MYSTERY MAN, for giving some of your bone marrow to Mira!! You know that in France, they love to EAT that stuff... YUCK!!!!!!!
Hey... will your taste buds grow back?? My dad lost his sense of taste.. but I think it came from losing his sense of smell after an operation in his nose...or something like that... What about ICE CREAM?!
Can you taste that?? God, it's so bland but I hope that you can taste sugary things, at least...
I can't imagine, but I think if I lost my sense of taste, I would lose all the wait I needed to lose!
Talk to you soon.. we're leaving in an hour or so for the airport!
Take care and I'll check back with you on Sunday!
Hugs,
Leese
Yay! So glad your broke your record! It must feel great to be in your own bed and everything. Super jealous of the ANTM marathon you're watching. With the taste buds gone, now you can eat all the stuff you know is good for you but usually tastes bad! But hopefully they, and everything else, is back to normal as soon as possible!
Woohooo!!! I'm glad to hear you made it home!! And I'm kinda jealous that you are watching 'shallow TV'.
In case you were wondering, I've been working on a work project for like 14 hours straight and not only is it still not done, I'm pretty sure it sucks. My powerpoints always come out like they were created by a 4 year old - probably a color-blind 4 year old.
Also, for energy, I decided to eat a king size Kit Kat and half a box of Twizzlers...so now my taste buds feel great, but my stomach...not so much...
Anyway, I'm proud of you for working your butt off to make it home so quickly. But I'm pretty sure if you made a real effort you could of made it out on Day 8. Don't go slacking on me now.
OK - I'm done populating your blog with nonsense while procrastinating.
Talk Soon and XOXO!!!
Glad you're home!! I've been thinking about you so I was happy to read this post!
It's awesome you are home!
Indeed, you did a job good. You are the best patient ever ;-)
No taste buds is not great at this time of the year. Hope that comes back soon!
Hope your first weekend at home is going very well!! How long does it take until your tastebuds start growing back? Have you had the chance to watch any good movies lately, or have you been sticking with the shallow tv? Hang in their sweetie!! Shabbat Shalom!
Shoot, if you can't taste, eat everything that's healthy for you that you never liked before!
Get your fill until your tastebuds come back and then you can resume eating tasty things that aren't so good for you (ie. pain au chocolat :))
Emily - thanks! My eating is really restricted for the next couple of months so no food from the outside :(
Leesa - the taste buds will grow back eventually. Sadly even ice cream tastes funny :(
Andromeda - thanks!
Yael - you crack me up. You're hilarious, and almost as good as shallow TV for amusement.
Shannon and Zhu - thanks!
Sevonne - not sure how long until the tastebuds start growing back, hopefully soon? I just watched You Don't Mess With the Zohan - too funny!
Monique - it's more like I'm eating all the crap that is terrible for me because it's the only stuff I can taste! Cheddar cheese pretzels, cheesy flavored chips... at least I don't have much of an appetite so I'm not eating a lot of anything!
Just wanted to say that the dietitian in me is proud of you for making such an effort to keep eating, despite all the challenges!
Thanks Ksam! The dietician at the hospital was so wonderful, she helped us so much to find some solutions to the many, many chemo-related eating issues.
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