Day +8- so great...engraftment begins

Because I'm neutropenic, my vital signs must be taken every 4 hours to make sure everything is OK and I haven't spiked a fever.  So at 2 am, the nurses kindly combine obtaining vital signs with my morning lab draw to check a complete blood count and chemistry panel.  When she came in later to give me my morning meds, she also told me my lab results.  She uttered 5 beautiful words..."You have a white count!". Craig noted, incidentally, that "You-won-the-Illinois-lottery" and "You-may-go-home-today", would have also been 5 beautiful words, but I'll take the white cells at this point.  She said it was one of the perks of being a night shift nurse, getting to tell a patient that he/she has started to engraft.  CUE the waterworks! It's day +8 here, and engraftment normally happens between days 10-14.  Today my little, tiny, white count is 0.1, up from a whopping 0.0!  Normal would be anywhere from 4000-12000 and mine was unmeasurable  yesterday and today it is 100. My platelets bumped up more than my white cell count and are now at 96,000.  (I think I might just join the .1% club that won't need to be transfused).  Dr. Burt seemed to be more excited about my platelet count in terms of engraftment.  I guess 10% of patients bump their platelets first when they engraft, and the other 90% bump their white count.  He didn't commit to any discharge day, but we know it is just around the corner.  It looks like Craig might have a very Happy Father's Day!

Did I mention my maiden name is Thunder?

The nurses have called me an anomaly. I feel fortunate in that I'm one of the fastest patients they have seen engraft and I haven't needed any blood products. My secret is that I walk an insane amount of laps, I eat an insane amount of hardboiled eggs, and my husband provides daily support and comic relief.  Most importantly, I have a legion of people praying for me and I know God is in control of this "anomaly".  I feel lucky because I require minimal nursing work...maybe I can do this again! The nurses and staff here have been great. On this floor, like on so many others, I know there are patients far worse off than I am. They keep telling me that they are going to take my picture and put it on their wall of fame. We plan to submit the photo below.

In the words of King Julian, "this lady is really starting to freak me out!"

I have experienced perhaps my first ever "migraine" the last few days (can be a side effect of the neupogen). Unfortunately, the "music" lately has not been soothing violin but rather some hard rock band apparently called "Construction Zone", directly beneath my room. No lead guitar, just a drill into the steel girder. I sure will miss those guys.

Today I am thankful for 100 little white blood cells that stood up and demanded to be counted. Hopefully they will be joined by hundreds more tomorrow.

~Veronica