We came in for the Tuesday appointment as yesterday's morning and afternoon clinics were all fully booked. Once again I drove to the hospital. I'm getting used to doing the driving now. It's not because I'm trying to push myself unnecessarily, I feel comfortable and fully alert driving the car, but only when supervised. Although I feel quite capable of driving back home too, Dad always drives back just to be on the safe side.

The hickman line was flushed today, as it is always flushed out once a week, and my bloods were taken. Then it was a matter of waiting to see the consultant. On this occasion we saw the professor once again. It's been a while since I last saw him. As usual, he didn't have much to say, probably as there wasn't much to say about me. The comments I've been getting the last few appointments have all been positive, so he continued by saying that I'm making good progress and that we should reduce the visits to once a week instead of twice a week. That itself is a good sign, as it means you are showing good progress and you're not seen as a high risk any more. That doesn't mean it's time to start taking some more liberties, just that you're stable enough not to have to come in every three or four days.

In fact the professor added that he thinks it's time for the hickman line to come out. I was quite shocked when I heard this, as I was always lead to believe that the line stays with you for at least two months, and I'm barely one-and-a-half-months post transplant. With the line, you have to weigh up the risk of catching an infection where the line is inserted into the skin versus the convenience of not having to have your veins pierced every time you go for an appointment. Another thing that made me rather hesitant about having the line removed so early is that my haemoglobin (Hb) count was a little lower at 9.8 compared to 10.8 the previous Thursday. The lower threshold for the Hb count is 9, and if the levels fall to 9 you usually get a blood transfusion. As the red blood cells take over a month to produce most people have blood transfusions some time after the BMT as it takes a while for the new marrow to be able to produce the required amount of red blood. My last transfusion was on 27th Feb, so I've been self sufficient for nearly a month, but will have to wait until Monday before I find out whether one last blood transfusion is required. All of the other counts have shown an improvement. The white cell count has risen to 2.2 with the neutrophils up to 1.7 and platelets at 124. By next week hopefully my immune system will be at the lower bounds of those expected for a normal person. Already the platelets are within the normal operating ranges.

That was as exciting as the visit was. I booked the next appointment for Monday next week and decided that I would not have the hickman line taken out as I was uncomfortable with the decision. If in two weeks things continue go well as they have been then I'll be happy to have the line taken out. I don't think I've built up an emotional attachment, it's more of a gut feeling that it is too soon to remove it.

Back at home things are going very well with the appetite and taste. I'm eating a lot more that last week and enjoying it as well. Little things like being able to eat a croissant along with a mug of coffee have become a real pleasure and the meals are now all savoured as the taste is coming back quite well. Despite the improved appetite I was a little surprised that I have lost half a kilo compared to Thursday last week, but we weren't too concerned because I know that I was eating a decent amount each day, as well as drinking plenty of fluids. I'm still not eating sweet things, and enjoying my tea and coffee without any sugar which is most definitely a first.

Now that Dad has returned back to the UAE, I'm at home with Mum and looking after her. My brother came down with flu over the weekend and has since been banned from the house until a couple of days after he feels over it. This means that the burden of house chores has passed to me, so I'm putting out the laundry, doing the washing up and vacuum cleaning. It feels good to be able to do these things, but I'd prefer someone else to do this. Generally I feel a lot more energetic than last week, and don't have any problems with getting up to do a bit of work, but I'm still carful that I don't over exert myself at this early stage.

As the visits to the hospital have been cut back to once a week, the updates to the diary will become less frequent, and will appear after my Monday visit. There's not much point in adding entries throughout the week unless something drastic happens.