A Milestone

Well folks, it's here. Today is my 100th day post-transplant.

As I've said all along, this is an important milestone. Most of the horrid complications of a transplant are likely to occur in the first 100 days, and having gotten through them safely is important.

Also, supposedly I'm going to start feeling better faster, now that three months have passed.

The way things stand, the recovery has been slow. Eating is still hard--while my taste buds are slowly improving, the dry mouth and appetite are not much better yet. My weight is stable at around 160 pounds; which means I've stopped losing weight, but I haven't yet scrounged up enough calories to start gaining back. I'm not significantly stronger yet either, but have been doing okay. I stopped taking the Valcyte (CMV drug), which had been holding down my blood counts--so those should be going up nicely. Soon, hopefully.

I've started exercising; I go to the gym three times a week, with hopes of slowly building up some strength. Though like with everything else, there aren't any dramatic results in that department just yet :-)

A few weeks ago I took a short trip to Pittsburgh to check on things. I had not been back to my apartment since about six months prior, before my relapse. Thankfully everything was still in order. I'm going again this week, and will stay a few days longer. I'll be getting a chance to see my colleagues at the UPMC hand surgery fellows' graduation, which I'm very much looking forward to.

I'm also looking forward to eventually figuring out my own path back to work and hopefully back to hand surgery, though that's a process which is going to take quite a bit more than a hundred days. For now, the goal is to have the energy to get through each day, be less tired, eat more, and just do more.

Comments

[BT]

congrats sam!!! this is a great day! i have been thinking about you and how far you have come - you are truly amazing and inspiring. hang in there.

[Mike Smith]

Sam,

Congrats on day 100!! Keep it up, see you soon!

[Amanda Cox]

happy cente-day-ial! wish my latin were better, so i could figure how to properly say that. at any rate, you know what i mean! i am so happy to see the post and even happier that you are going to the gym more than me these days. keep pumping iron and keep making leukocytes!! xoxo.

[radar]

I commend to you the hearty Iowa City Hamburg Inn tradition of pie shakes.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990DE4D81230F931A35754C0A9669C8B63&sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Good luck on your caloric journey.

[radar]

Well, that was ugly. TinyURL:
http://tinyurl.com/64k6ty

[Noriko]

Hey! You should call me when you come down to Pittsburgh next time. We have founds some good restaurants that might help with your appetitie. =) Congrats on hitting the 100 day mark! (although you are further than that now..)

[Elizabeth]

Hi Sam, I'm a friend of Alissa's I think we may have met once at a post-Farsi class dinner, but you don't know me. Still, I have heard about you from Alissa so often and have thought of you many times over the past few months and wondered how you were doing. I'm glad now to see your blog and be able to congratulate you on passing Day 100 (and now reaching probably Day 140 or so, since you posted this a while ago)!