Weirdest thing. I have had the loveliest day here in the hospital with Claire. After I spent an hour and forty-five minutes driving what usually takes twenty minutes to get to the hospital I settled in for the next 24 hours. I hadn't been here for four days because I had a stomach virus and fever and had to stay away. Claire was in such good spirits and we both loved watching the snow fall out of the window of our cozy hospital room. I know. I must be going crazy to call our hospital room cozy. But we have soft blankets and pictures on the walls and Christmas lights and my house has been loud and messy dealing with the flood. We spent a lot of time chatting with our nurses, and I chatted with some other visitors out in the hall. (The charge nurse wanted to keep the in room visitors restricted, and rightfully so.) I had brought cinnamon rolls this morning, and it was fun to see our medical teams enjoying them on this snowy day. Claire and I laughed a lot looking at funny pictures and clips on Facebook, and for some reason we found Steve Harvey on Family Feud particularly funny. One of the great old time nurses, Dave, used his badge to show me the secret stairwell that ends by the helipad with a great view of the city. Claire ate a cup of spaghettios and a few bites of a baked potato! And I ended the evening listening to great music on The Voice and the Adele Live concert. We watched it old school, running to the bathroom during the commercial breaks, with no pause or DVR. (I say we loosely. Claire pretty much conks out by 7pm.) And the best thing: our friend Madeleine, who has been fighting her own battle with cancer, was able to text with us for a bit. We just passed the three week mark being inpatient, and today I didn't care. Claire also said that she had a lovely day. Like I said. Weirdest thing.

Oh, and Claire's ANC happened to be 900 today. (0.9) What?!? So, it seems that she has engrafted. She is getting daily neupogen, which stimulates white blood cells. They will continue giving it to her until her ANC hits about 2,000, then when they stop it her ANC will probably drop by about fifty percent. I asked the bone marrow team, "What now?" She needs to keep recovering blood counts (she got platelets again today), then they need to wean her off all of her IV meds. They have already switched a few more back to oral, and they are cutting down her morphine drip. She needs to be able to eat more and have a solid plan for nutrition. (She said that she never lost her appetite, just her ability to eat. So sad. And it takes some work to wake up your body's ability to take in food.) She needs to be in a solid engraftment. We are on day 14 of a 100 day count, with several months after that rebuilding her immune system and regaining strength. But today was lovely. Or maybe I am losing my mind.

Day 14

WBC- 1.5
Hgl- 9.1
Hct- 26.8
Plts- 11
ANC- 900