Another day and another drive through the tunnels. Being that it is Saturday, the hospital hallways were empty so we took full advantage and sped around in Rafi’s convertible. She’s gotten to driving with one hand on the wheel with the other hand all to willing to hit the horn. She is definitely a New Yorker. Today was also the first day that she didn’t have a fever. We came close on a couple of occasions but we she didn’t break the threshold.

Rafi continues to do exceptionally well through this process. Her wounds are healing up very nicely as the ever important numbers continue to rise. Today she had a WBC of 3.9 and an ANC of 2.3. Rafaella was chatty and smiling a lot today. On the down side, she is still fighting with the nausea and the occasional vomiting but she seems to be accepting of the fact that she has to throw up sometimes. When she is clearly nauseas we tell her it’s OK to throw up as Mommy and Daddy do it all the time. At one point, I was in the bathroom running water and she asked if I was vomiting. Jackie told her I was and then Rafi asked me “You OK?” She also still has some pain and she tells us when and where it hurts. She knows which pump is the one that controls the fentanyl and has even pointed to it before when she needs a bolis. Our little drug addict is too cute.

Rafi is clearly on the mend and it is great to see. She ate some vanilla and chocolate ice cream today and we will start to give her some of her favorite foods, baked beans and yogurt, starting tomorrow. She is still about a kilo and a half above her admit weight but that will resolve itself at some point. I think some of her stomach pain is from the fluid retention and we were told by our nurse that Rafi’s body will ache and hurt as she creates all these new cells. But it is important to note that the amount of pain medication Rafi gets in her IV has been cut in half and she requires significantly less bumps on a daily basis. Tomorrow we are going to start to cycle her TPN (her nutrition that she receives through her hickman line). Instead of getting the TPN on a 24 hour basis, we will knock it down to 16 hours. Eventually she will only get it when she sleeps. At the same time, we are going to start to transition her IV medications to oral medications. In order for us to leave the hospital this has to happen. We are getting closer to home.

I am not looking forward to cleaning up the hospital room and bringing everything back to the apartment. We have amassed a ton of stuff there. Plus, we have to get our apartment cleaned like it was a crime scene. We’ll have the furniture cleaned, the rugs shampooed and while we are at it, the blinds and windows as well. Of course Jackie and I will have to clean up the apartment so that we can have a firm come in to clean the apartment.

Thank you to everyone for all the emails, text messages, voice mails, offers of food delivery, you name it. All the support has been wonderful and we appreciate it so very much. Until tomorrow…………