House Arrest

Tempo

Right now I am sitting on a recliner in our small clean apartment near Merced Lake. There is a view of the lake with a rifle range in the foreground. Good thing Tempo doesn't live here with us because she wouldn't like the sounds coming from the rifle range. The rowing team from SF State uses the lake. There are many other rowers during the day but the big boats come out at dawn and just before dark. There is also a bike path busy with bikes and runners. In the background are the hills of San Francisco and the Sutro Tower.

Billie and I are still getting settled. We are stocking up on food and housekeeping supplies. Billie moved some of our furniture from Sacramento. We bought a new bed that we can eventually move to Sacramento to replace our worn out bed there. The new bed is such a luxury after spending a month on the plastic hospital bed.

According to plan I was discharged on Monday afternoon. To be eligible for discharge I needed to be off the pain meds. I was having trouble swallowing due to the methotrexate. I went from Norco to Morphine and finally Dilaudid last week for about five days. My last dose of methotrexate was on day 11 and as soon as my throat began to heal I went cold turkey. I have to say it was the worst hangover of my life.

My engraftment seems to be going well. I am on immunosuppressants for the foreseeable future. I will slowly be weaned off of immunosuppressants to help control Graft Versus Host Disease. So far I have no detectable GVHD. It is still a little early for the GVHD to manifest itself.

According to the doctors I am the star of the transplant ward. Because my counts were above a certain threshold and climbing I was discharged as early as possible.

I was a little optimistic about the freedom I would be allowed. For now I am not allowed to go riding my bike alone. I can go on walks but only on paved paths. I will not be able to go into restaurants or any other businesses. When indoors at the hospital or in the halls of our apartment complex I must wear a mask. Billie is dedicated to enforcing all these restrictions. She is doing a fine job.

Tomorrow we will be having a mini Thanksgiving feast. We are cooking some turkey breast in a crockpot. It will just be the two of us. We will miss Thanksgiving in Chico this year and the Hericium mushroom picking ritual. I hope Scott and Meghan will send me a photo of the mushroom if it comes out this year. I first found the Hericium about ten years ago on a maple tree. It was about grapefruit size then. It is larger than a bowling ball now and always delicious. The dense sweet flesh resembles crab meat when cooked.