On the verge of release...

Mornin' folks.

A lot (mostly good) has happened in the last 24 hours:

* I continue to feel better following back surgery and while the back is still quite tender where they did the work, other than some stiffness and soreness there I'm feeling pretty good.

* I am off Dilaudid and am relying instead on a fairly minor continuous dose of Fentanyl delivered via patches on my shoulder. I will have oral Dilaudid in case of breakthrough pain but basically I'm off the IV. This means I can type a lot better, too. :) It's amazing how thick a fog that stuff puts one in. I still can't think lucidly enough to construct that previous sentence without ending it in a preposition, but things are improving.

* My blood numbers are stabilizing. I got another pint of blood yesterday, my platelets continue to go up, my electrolytes are reaching normal ranges, my white cell count is still on the high side at 22 and change but coming down. Everything is as expected there.

* I checked out the bloodflow in my legs via doppler/ultrasound to make sure the pain I felt in my left leg was coincidental with back surgery rather than bloodclot-related. Everything looks good.

* Turd the Merciless tried to mount another attack but we kept in front of the constipation with Lactulose so all systems are working.

Hopefully, I will be released from the hospital today. BB came by yesterday and seemed to think I could be released immediately but he then acknowledged I had to get off the IV medication, which I've now done. He seemed very interested in rapidly doing another bone marrow and PET scan to "re-stage me" and then proceed with therapy. Personally I think I could use a couple of days off but we'll see. Jill ran into Bonnie, BB's head nurse, who of course attributed my constipation and complications on the sedation I insist on for the bone marrows. Meanwhile the anesthesiologists all tell me that they do those procedures with anesthesia all the time and that I shouldn't be "bullied" into not using them. So I'm sticking to my guns. They may want to do another bone marrow next week -- and if they do, they'll do it with me asleep, plain and simple. :)

My friend Gordon has come out to relieve Jill, who left very early this morning. We watched UCLA squeak by VCU last night in the tourney and will watch them hopefully beat Villanova on Saturday. Otherwise, not much on the docket.

More news as it develops. Thanks to all for your support!