Happy Valentine's Weekend.

I just took a nice long walk and decided when I get home I better write something in the blog. So, here I am. I know it's often a week or more between posts, but my recovery has just not been that exciting - there's not much going on. This, in turn, translates into not a whole lot to write about. I was definitely expecting a lot more 'things' and/or 'issues' to come up that I could address in a blog. But, that being said, I'll fill you in the best I can on the excitement surrounding the stem-cell transplant and the Kearny/Castaneda family.

First of all, I have my first cold. I started getting a sore throat on Monday night and it progressed to a mild congestion, rare dry cough, and a slight headache. Right now I just have an occassional cough and a little bit of a runny nose. Really not to bad, I have to say that I probably have (at least so far) gotten less sick with this cold than other colds in the past. I was a bit worried about the first illness I was going to get (I knew I was going to get something eventually), wondering would I get really sick because of my immune system - or, just what would happen. I have to say I'm glad I got a mild cold and seem to be doing pretty well with it. It's good for the state of mind if you know what I mean - it's nice to know that my body can handle a normal cold.

I was going to go home last Sunday, but then Owen was sick and Jack had a couple of very light sniffles too. I've been spending a lot of time with them, so I probably picked up the bug from Owen. I'd trade a cold for hanging out with Owen anytime, he's such a cutie-pie. Owen ended up having a double ear infection and conjuctivitis (eye infection), so he's on antibiotics. So, if his sniffles are pretty much gone, I think I'll try and go home on Sunday (yep, in two days).

My visits to the doctor continue to be weekly and my counts have been good. I get my blood drawn and then have the appointment. Often the lab results aren't back yet, so I always figure it's a good thing when in the next day or two I don't get a phone call from the nurse. In other words, no call is good news. I'm confident that they would call me if something bad showed up on my labwork - at least I hope so.

I feel pretty strong and continue to walk quite a bit. The cold slowed down my other work-out regime a bit, but hopefully I'll start that back up once I get home. I don't want to get off the 'work-out wagon' because once I fall off, it's often hard to get back on. Whereas, if I just keep up a consistent routine, I can usually stick with it.

One thing that was kind of weird was that I was (and still am) having some stomach aching when I drank a lot of milk (or ice cream...boo hoo). They are telling me that the chemo I had disrupts the lining of the digestive tract and often afterwards, people have trouble digesting milk for a few months. I guess dairy products are one of the more difficult things for your body to digest. So, I'm taking it easy on glasses of milk and ice cream. Seem to do pretty well with cheese on pizza and in my eggs, as well as yogurt. They assure me that I'll be eating my usual pint of Ben & Jerry's ice cream by springtime. Anyway, as you can see, not too much exciting. I truly feel like I am doing well and feel very good.

My only complaints these days are that I would like to get home, and that's coming very soon. And, dealing with the Premera insurance company, but that's a whole other story. So, a Happy Valentine's Day to everyone. Spring is just around the corner. As I've said earlier, it always feels like February goes so fast - I love it. So nice to get out of the long month of January. I'll look forward to talking with you all soon. Take care, Mike