I somehow knew today was going to be a better day than yesterday, mainly because it couldn’t very well be worse. And I have not been disappointed; I received a charming poop-emoticon laced text message from Lucy; I succeeded in talking my nurse into insisting that the hospital pharmacy get the lead out and provide the IV bag of Tylenol I badly needed (since I can’t take pills at all these days and swallowing even liquid forms of medicines is an ordeal best avoided) in a timely manner.

Then there was this bit of (huge) good (great) news: my blood counts are climbing! My White Blood Cell count has stopped being essentially invisible and has hit the 0.3 mark. Monocytes and Neutrophils are also showing improvement. I have no idea what this really means from a medical or scientific point of view, but it’s important (in this layman’s terms) because it is evidence that my new immune system has already started engrafting. So not only did my brother produce a hell of a lot of stem cells, but they seem to be the enterprising, nation-building kind. Yes, I did need this morale boost, but this is more than just that: it’s hope in the short term for an end to my sore throats, headaches, etc., and hope in the long term for being cancer-free.