Saturday Dec. 18th (Day +9)

Slightly out of focus, but mildly cheerful picture of Brian :)

I'm happy to report that today is a better day!  Although he's still very tired and worn out, Brian is finally feeling a little bit better.  He was able to sit up in a chair and eat some cornflakes for breakfast, and has sipped on a milkshake for lunch.  He even thinks a grilled cheese and french fries might sound good for dinner!  I hate to think what our grocery bill is going to be when his full-blown appetite comes back...

His counts today are better, too!  Creatinine has finally budged and is down to 5.6 - yay for his kidneys!  White blood cell count is at 0.3, hemoglobin is 7.4, platelet count is 11 - so no transfusions needed today!  All in all things are looking up.  Dr. Abhyankar (the BMT doctor on service this week) thought he might even be able to go home by Tuesday as long as his fevers subsided.  He still had a high fever this morning, but it has started to go down this afternoon - let's hope it continues to trend that way.

One of Brian's friends encouraged us to rename the blog so that it isn't so much of an "ownership" of myeloma...we'd love to hear any thoughts or suggestions you all might have.