I don't understand...

Wait... something went smoother than expected? This doesn't compute...

Well this is exactly what happened! I managed to get through this latest round of chemotherapy without having to be bounced back to the hospital. I have been out of the hospital for 2 entire weeks and feels like an eternity. Turns out it is a pretty tough job keeping yourself at home. I had to go the outpatient clinic everyday for 7 straight weekdays. There they were able to manage my low blood counts, by giving me a few transfusions of platelets and blood to top me off until my body started making its own again. I was able to avoid any infections while my immune system was nonexistent, by staying sequestered at home for a week, and taking some antibiotics -just in case. And there we go! thats all you need to do! The problem with this strategy is that ended up spending so much time on my old worn out couch that I ended up with some pretty bad back spasms. To add insult to injury, the only thing that I could take for it was Tylenol because my blood was so thin. Anything else would end up thinning the blood more and put me at risk for bleeding. But with a lot of Tylenol and heating pads I got through it :)
By the time Friday rolled around, my immune system had recovered and the magnitude of this accomplishment had begin to set in. For the first time since this ordeal began in January something went soothly. Not just smoothly, even better than expected. After every round of chemotherapy you have to expect to spend a few days in the hospital. Most people pick up some sort of infection while they there immune system is compromised. But nope... not me this time. No cardiac issues, no nose bleeds or bruising, no trips to the emergency room, no drains or tubes, and most importantly no intensive care... (knock on wood)
This weekend, it really started to sink in that this act of my 'adventure' starting to draw to its conclusion. I am very aware that there is still a long road for me to go after this, but the anticipation of being done with chemotherapy is starting to sink in. Just one more round. I will be free to plan things as I wish, not trying to fit things in between hospital stays, not trying to anticipate when my blood counts will tank, or worry about the guy who just sneezed near you. I will be free to live my life without having Leukemia as its centerpiece. Its impossible to fully describe, but a giant weight is in the process of being lifted off my shoulders.

In about a month, I will have my life back. Wow... That is something that is very hard to understand right now...