Day +36, +37, +38, +39

Another morning in beautiful downtown Duarte.  A blood draw and then clinic visit.  Besides all the regular tests, they also drew blood to run a test that tells how many cells have engrafted in the bone marrow.  Usually, they do a bone marrow at 30 days post transplant but since our counts have been increasing they won't do one until 100 days.  We are seeing a nurse practitioner again today because our MD is doing rounds at the hospital.
Steven's WBC and platelet counts are in the normal range but his RBC's have dropped again.  His glucose remains high and his A1C is now elevated.  The A1C tells you if the glucose has been elevated the last 3 months.  When we were still at COH, the endocrinologist said it was due to the meds but we will be seeing him again the week after Thanksgiving.  His creatine is creeping up so the RN will be talking to our MD and calling later.
Steven can be left for an hour if I'm 15 minutes away.  I hear Aretha Franklin singing "Freedom" in the Blues Brothers movie.  I ran...I mean, walked briskly, and did a few errands and actually saw people I knew.  I miss those small but significant social moments.  Even more importantly, Steven is doing well considering what his body has been going through.
It's nothing short of a medical miracle to obliterate someone's bone marrow and introduce a strangers stem cells to make a new functioning bone marrow.  We aren't going to do anything to jeopardize this gift of a second life.  We will be following the rules and do as we are told even if it feels like we are on house arrest.  This will be a first for me, following the rules.  Cooking for Thanksgiving will be....interesting.  Everything has to be ready at the same time.  Good thing I will have reinforcements to help.  We are up for the challenge.
The nurse practitioner called and they are going to adjust one of the GVHD meds to keep the creatine in the normal range and maybe even lower his glucose.  It's a balancing act that will continue for a long time.
Our most awesome friends who used to live across the street but now live in Florida, are sending Steven a joke a week.  It's such a great idea!  They are a very clever family and we miss them very much.  Here is one of the jokes:
What do you get when you divide the circumference of your Jack-O-Lantern by it's diameter?
Pumpkin Pi