Countdown to a birthday

God willing and the creeks don't rise, in seven days I will be 4 years old.

In other words, it will be four years from my transplant on Jan. 31, 2009 – my re-birthday.

Maybe my toddler friends and I should get together and celebrate. PJ would have to come from New York and Ann from New Orleans. We could have a food fight or, more appropriately, give thanks to our donors, those generous souls who gave us another chance.

Meanwhile, I spoke too soon when I wrote in my last post that I was all better. I have gotten sick twice then and am now guaging good days and bad days according to whether I throw up or not. I am still waiting for results on the biopsy done during my endoscopy.

One way I can tell I'm not quite right is that I haven't had coffee in two days!

I take Ativan for nausea...and then end up on the couch and in my head. Yesterday I thought I would at least take Maddie for a walk. It is so cold out that we didn't go far, plus she was bad and wouldn't come when called. I turn the heat way down at night, and at least she redeemed herself this morning by sitting close to me on the couch and sharing some of her natural heat while the house warmed up.

I did go to George's tennis clinic last night. We rotated three against one, and I thought I was pretty smart to skip the rotation where I was alone. George kept telling me to move my feet. Always excellent advice and something I am extra aware of after watching the Australian Open. On the other hand I was afraid of jostling my insides. I ran to the bathroom, got sick, and then, truth be told, finished out the clinic.

I might go to restorative yoga tonight. I figure I can't possibly get sick there, when all you do is basically lie around. I was skeptical the one time I did it, but it actually was very restorative.

On another note, I stopped taking Neurontin, which I have been on for a long time to control the neuropathy in my feet. I wanted to see if the tingling and prickly feeling had gone away on its own, but I'm sorry to say it is back. The Neurontin never made it totally go away, but it did dull the symptoms. Now I am waking up to needles in my feet. Melissa said it's optional whether I go back on or not. It's always good to get rid of one more pill and and one more set of side effects, but feeling like you're walking on pins and needles is no fun either. I think I'm going to stick it out a little longer, and if it gets to be too much I'll go back on.

Well, at least the pill is a nice yellow color and adds variety to the colors in my pill box.