So, after those two weeks of staying at home, I went back to work. Part of the reason for this is that I was bored. 17 days in the hospital and another 16 staying in the house, makes for a lot of boredom. In fact, I did cheat a little bit and went to a few stores the week before I was supposed to. I just couldn't stay home any more. I tried to avoid people while I was out -- I didn't wait in the check-out lines and I used some anti-bacterial handwash as soon as I got out of the store. I probably shouldn't have, but I did and I am just darn lucky that I didn't get sick. When I started back to work, it was partly to get out of the heat, not just getting out of the house. The humidity was incredibly high as well as high temperatures and we don't have central air conditioning. I do have central air at work. The heat index was regularly over 110, so going to work was actually a healthier decision than staying at home. Also, the building in which I work was mostly deserted -- I think I've only run into six to eight people or so in the whole three weeks since I've been back.

Secondly, "all" I'm doing for work right now has been re-designing the department's web pages and working on a database for another group. Since I can work at my own pace, I figured that this wasn't so bad. The first week I tried to just do short days, but by Wednesday I was up to full-time again. In fact, last week I spent several 10 and 12 hour days.

On top of this, I've been working out. I started jogging just as the heat index started rising, so that only lasted about a week. After that, however, I began walking in the mornings with some of the women from the church. We get to the lake where we walk around 6 a.m. and walk for about three miles. Because I work near the lake, I just park at work, walk out to my office building and dump my stuff, then walk out to the lake. Because of this, I'm probably walking closer to four miles a day.

All in all, I feel fine -- almost as if nothing had ever happened. It's kind of weird; I was really preparing myself for three months of feeling crummy, but it was only about 2 weeks after I got out of the hospital that I felt a bit off and weak. I've felt pretty much back to normal ever since. Even my endurance is pretty much back to normal (if not improved). I try not to do too much intensely physical stuff, because when I do start to feel weak, it comes on very quickly.

One of the doctors told me that last week I was in the hospital that if he hadn't seen my blood counts, he'd never have known I'd been through a transplant. I just didn't get sick and "off" like most people do. I was really lucky, I know. It has been a little bit harder these last few weeks, though, because I feel so good I forget that I'm still recovering from a major procedure. I have a hard time with believing that sometimes -- there was no surgery involved, after all, and I feel just fine.

All in all, I'm really lucky. Before this transplant, I read several stories of people who'd had really rough times with the chemo and the transplant and I was sure this would be a really hard experience. For whatever reason, it's been a comparative cakewalk for me. I don't know why I took it so well, but I did, and I'm incredibly grateful for it.

What happens now? >>