I received 6 immunizations on Tuesday November 10th. SIX shots, 3 in one arm, 3 in the other. Pin cushion Baxter at your service. On my last blog, I shared I was probably going home with a PICC line or staying in the hospital for a lengthy visit. That plan changed about as quick as they formulated it.

I ended up only staying in the hospital for 4 days total, got to come home Sunday. They couldn’t decide if it was cellulitis, which would be essentially bacterial in nature, or if it was a reaction from the pneumonia immunization. They said nothing indicated infection, so they leaned toward a reaction type incident.

Black line was drawn to determine spreading of the infection. I have to admit, the first couple of days, this hurt.

I went today to the transplant clinic for a follow up visit. I am feeling better and stronger. I received an “all clear” to return to work on November 30th. I’ll be going back on a part time basis; hoping that will help me to get acclimated to germs again and not push me too hard physically.

My job isn’t physical. I consider myself a lucky man. I get to take care of these tiny (most of them) cute (all of them) little babies in the neonatal ICU. I love my job. There is nothing as heartwarming as working with a baby and the family and watching them all growing bigger, stronger, and head out the door home glowing happily. I think the hardest part is that I work nights at a big hospital that is south of downtown cowtown (Fort Worth). I leave about 5pm on any shift I work and get home by about 8 in the morning. You can do the math on that one, have to admit the length of the hours can be challenging in my current state.

My health is growing stronger overall, but a few challenges remain as a post transplant patient. I had an autologous stem cell transplant 11-11-14. I have found this to be much harder to recover from than I thought it would be. I’m glad to be back on my monthly IgG infusions, although that presents some challenges. My immune system is obviously still weak and it has no “memory” of any prior infections, so I’m going to catch just about anything that comes my way. I also find physical fatigue to probably be the biggest problem overall. I simply have no stamina. When I started walking this summer to build up stamina, my left achilles heel swelled up putting an abrupt stop to any use of that foot beyond simple stuff. **sigh** Still some GI distress on occasion, but that has been slowly resolving.

I’m glad to be home, glad to be returning to work, and looking forward to thanksgiving. Food, family, fun, and God, does it get any better?