Well,  I write this from the comfort of my hotel room.   I’m still in awe of today.  

Last night,  I was in pretty bad bone pain.  I took Tylenol at 9:00 and at 1:00 was ready for a Norco.   Neither touched it.  It was an on and off night as I tried to sleep happily in pain…. as I knew that was a good sign.  My nurse walked in at 6:00 that morning and I said… Nancy,  let me hear a .1…. She said… What about a .6?  I screamed…  .6? That is .4 away from a release!  I woke my mother up who was in a blur and we all cheered as we thought about what was to happen.  My Doctor came in at 9:00 with a huge smile.  He said,  were going to retest you this afternoon.  I have a feeling you are leaving today!   I hugged everyone… I know.  I’m not supposed to hug! As we waited I checked flights and booked one for the morning (knowing we could easily change it to the evening). My mom packed my room and my dad went to Apple to fix my iPad that , like my stem cells,  went nuts the night before.  As I waited,  I tried to keep my adrenalin down so my heart wouldn’t race.  It was hard.  I got a text from my Stemmie buddie Don saying that we were all going to meet for a group picture at noon.  Then the phone rang.  It was the worlds best PA. She needed some info from me and then said,  Colleen… We looked at your numbers and while your WBC is .6,  your AN is only .2 (I pretend I understand) that makes us think that the .6 may be a false number.  It may still get to 1,  but you may be spending another night.   I joking told her that she needed to check the negativity at the door and I chose to believe that the AN # was false.   We laughed and knew only time would tell.   Either way,  I knew I was less then 48 hours from my Rosie.  She was going to lunch and would stop by after to go over the discharge instructions with me.  This way tonight or tomorrow,  I could leave as soon as I got good numbers!

At noon,  I met my stem cell buddies (except Mike who couldn’t get over – we missed you Mike) and we talked and took pictures. Oh, someone send me one.  Lol then I went back to the room,  sat for a while and before you knew it 2:00 rolled around.  Kaitlyn came in and started going over all the discharge instructions with me.  While tris happened,  the nurse came in to give me my shots and take my blood.  I made Katilyn stop so we could send good thoughts to the blood and the nurse said,  don’t worry.. I’ll pray over it.  We finished the discharge ppw and hugged goodbyes in case I got released.  My dad went off to the pharmacy to get the prescription and my mom came up.  We started taking photos down and next thing I know my nurse,  Kaitlyn,  Amy and Allison come walking in with their thumbs held high!  You are outta here!   I could barely contain myself. I said… I hit 1…. She said no,  2.6 and your platelets were 49.  You were working some overtime last night!  I sure was!  Within the hour I was in a cab on the way to the hotel.  I’m exhausted and completely and utterly overwhelmed.  I will post more tomorrow is I can.  My wonderful friends Brooke and Melissa are on hand for Operation Surprise Rosie!  We should have some video of that.  Thank you  all again for your prayers.  Please keep me in them a while longer as well as the most wonderful 5 people I could have ever shared this experience with and their amazing families and friends.   It was truly amazing. 

Xoxo

Colleen

PS. The nurse took the picc line out.  I didn’t feel it at all.  Honestly.  I didn’t even know she started to pull.

PSS.  Judy and Don just sent me this.  I guess it didn’t take long!  Lol