Day 13.

Rick, Casey and Willie

Happy Martin Luther King day to all!  We had an excellent weekend.  On Saturday night I went to check in on Casey and was happy to see he was sitting up and looking really good.  His dad, Rick, had recovered from his brief sickness and has back in the room with him.  We got talking and they told me about a fund raiser that Casey's community is doing for him.  They are auctioning off a gun and Rick had some tickets left to sale.  I asked him to come by and show Willie to see if he was interested.
Rick got up to follow me over to our room when Casey announced he was coming too.
"I don't know," I said "I don't think you're allowed to leave the room?"
"Says who?" He questioned.
"Says the doctors and nurses." I told him.
"I don't care about that." He said, getting up from the bed and reaching for his mask.
I left to see if Willie was awake, feeling confident that Casey wouldn't make it past his door without his nurse stopping him.
A few minutes later Willie's outer door opened and a pink IV pole was pushed in.
"He really did it." I exclaimed.
"Who did what?" Willie asked.
"Casey is standing outside your door."
We both looked up as he came through the door, dragging his IV pole, his Dad close behind.
"How in the world did you get over here?" I wondered.
"I walked." He shrugged.
"Did your nurse see you?" I had to know.
"Yeah, she waved at me."
"Must be OK then." I replied.
We visited for a while about how the process was going for each of the guys.  Casey has definitely been hit harder since the transplant while Willie was knocked down early in the radiation and made a comeback when he should have been declining.  Casey is still using his pain pump and is a lot of fun to listen to.  He had us laughing with all kinds of random stories.
Willie's nurse came into the room and stopped dead when she saw two sets of IV poles.
"You're not my patient." She said, pointing to Casey.
"And you're not my nurse." He returned.
"Who let you in here?" She asked, as if it was an authorized zone.
"I just walked in."
"And your nurse let you?"
"She didn't say anything."
She frowned and motioned for him to get up. 
"You need to go back to your room."
We were busted.
Casey gathered his IV lines and opened the first door then turned around.
"Do you have a little dog running around in here?" He said while looking under the bed.
Willie laughed and said "No dog here."
"Oh well," Casey turned to push his pole through the second door "that would have been cool." He said as he left.
As soon as he was gone the nurse scolded me for letting him come in our room.  I assured her I was equally as surprised as she was.  Apparently Rick and Casey got scolded too.  There will be no more room visits for a while...
Willie's back pain calmed down a lot this weekend and he has no pain today.  His white blood cell count came up to 0.9 yesterday and the nurse told us he is now allowed to leave the room.  We went for a walk in the hall at 10 PM last night.  You would think that time of night would be quiet in a cancer unit, but the halls are always buzzing with nurses around here.  Willie looked like a celebrity as he pushed his IV pole through the hall.  Every nurse and CNA that saw him gave him a thumbs up and offered encouragement.  We have had nearly every one of them in our room at some point so it was like being on a parade in front of our friends.
This morning we got more good news from his Doctors.  They are really pleased with his blood counts and assured us that the rapid rise in white cells indicates that his body is accepting the new cells.  They are going to begin switching his IV meds to an oral form in preparation for us to leave.  They want him to increase his food and fluid intake and be on all oral meds before we can go. It seems too soon to be leaving, but we will be living locally and checking in at the cancer center 3 times a week for the next 2-3 months.
The nurse practitioner came in to discuss this plan for the next few days.  She was standing at the end of the bed and reached out to hold Willie's ankles.
"You have done really well." She said, looking him deeply in the eye.
"Thank you." He replied.
"You're welcome.  I have been really impressed by how you have handled everything.  You've done a fantastic job."
It was like she had pinned an award on Willie's chest. 
She has been with us since the first day when Willie was throwing his guts up from the radiation treatments.  She has seen his ups and downs and a compliment from someone who has been along for the entire ride is most appreciated.
Now I'm off to see if the boss wants to take another victory lap around the place.
Here's to an even higher white blood count tonight!