Day 100!

Though not as dramatic as Mel Gibson’s (or should I say William Wallace’s) garbled cry of “Freedom!” in his dying breath in the classic Braveheart, my Day 100 this past Thursday and its accompanying freedom from many of the restrictions that have plagued me in my first 99 days post-transplant felt pretty darn good. For those of you unfamiliar with transplant lingo (so, like 99.9% of people), Day 100 is 100 days after a bone marrow transplant and is the first of many milestones along a transplant recipient’s road to recovery. The first 100 days is generally considered the most difficult and the period during which the recipient is at greatest risk for infections, viruses, and GVHD (graft vs. host disease; you’re gonna have to Google that one because it’s a bit too complicated to explain here).

So, you may ask, what are these newfound freedoms? I can now go to stores, the movie theater, and people’s houses AND go for walks AND eat from restaurants! However (and this is a BIG however), these freedoms come with quite a few conditions. I can go to stores during low-volume times and to the movies in the morning if I wear my mask and wipe down everything I touch. I went to the movies with my friend this week and she was literally trying to use a hand sanitizing wipe to scrub down the theater seat cushions. I can go to people’s houses who don’t have pets if everyone (especially kids) is totally healthy. The walk thing, which I was super excited about, is extremely complicated because the sun can trigger GVHD, so to simplify my life I’ve decided that night walks will now be my thing. To go for a walk outside during the day (even when it’s overcast), I would basically have to mummify myself. We’re talking umbrella, hat, long sleeves, long pants, socks, and sunscreen covering every inch of exposed skin, including ears, hands, the works. Sound like fun during hot summer months? I didn’t think so either.

When it comes to restaurants, my meals have to be individually prepared, and everything I eat has to be fresh (consumed or refrigerated by me within 2 hours of being cooked). No food that’s under heating lamps or sitting out for over 2 hours. I still can’t eat at restaurants since they’re typically crowded environments and even during low-volume times, it’s a little challenging to eat wearing a mask...but when I can eat at restaurants, I’m supposed to ask for my food to be delivered to me as soon as it’s cooked rather than waiting until the entire table’s food is ready. You know how you feel that pang of guilt starting your meal when there’s that one person at your table who didn’t get his burger yet, and you stare down at your rapidly cooling plate longingly, hoping each waiter who passes by is carrying his food so you don’t have to wait any longer? Well I now have a totally justifiable reason to ignore that guilt and dig in :).

Here are the places I’ve been so far (most with Zack and a couple with friends): Century Theater in Mountain View, my parents’ house, our friends’ apartment, Macy’s, Lucky, Dollar Tree, Target, AMC Cupertino, Sprouts, Starbucks (caramel macchiato for the win!), and Bed Bath & Beyond. I’ve eaten food from Pizza Hut, In N Out, Five Guys (fries only; no ground beef from restaurants yet), Thai Chili (highly recommend it), and PF Changs (crispy green beans...mmm). My doctor was a little lenient about the whole 100 days thing and let me do most of this starting around day 90, in case you were thinking I did all this since Thursday. No, I’m not that beastly.

On a final note, I’m a bit embarrassed to admit I was more excited about going grocery shopping than about getting In N Out, and I had almost as much fun at Dollar Tree as I did seeing Kung Fu Panda 2 (which was awesome, by the way). But if you know me well, that’s no surprise :).