Day + 221

So here I sit over 220 days since my transplant, and it's just amazing to look back and reflect on the road so far. So much has happened since then, and even more since this all started close to a year ago. Chapters that were opened are now being closed, and its happening quickly. It started with us moving out of the beach house in San Diego a few weeks ago, followed by us moving back into Evey's place in Costa Mesa...and it continued today with me going back to work full time. I'll be honest with you, I have had my thoughts, more like doubts about going back so early. They have been swirling in my head over the past few weeks, but after today I know it was the right call. No doubt I will have some difficult days to get through in the upcoming weeks and months, but life would be too easy without difficult days. I am just really lucky that I work for a company that places value on it's associates well being, and I have seen and experienced that personally from the top of the org chart on down. I can't speak enough about how supportive, flexible and understanding everyone has been and it really has had a lot to do with my recovery. Not having to worry about your job or messing up your career while going through something like this just makes the whole situation that much easier to get through, and that is why I have been able to go back to work within a year of coming down with this illness. Rich, Keith, Chris and everyone else, thank you!

From a risk perspective, I'll be ok. I am going to slowly ease into it by working from home for the first couple of months. I'll be going in for meetings, presentations and things like that, but for the most part I'll be working from the house. These were the stipulations laid out by my doctors to avoid any unnecessary risk to my immune system while it still is building back up to normal strength. The office environment can be a petrie dish of bacteria and infection which your immune systems can usually fight off. Mine wouldn't stand a chance if truly tested...so until then I'll be keeping my distance. It's too bad because it was really cool being back in the office today. A lot of you might think being out of work for a year would be a great thing, but I can tell you from experience it isn't. Cashing checks with the statue of liberty on them and not feeling like you’re contributing to anything gets very old very quickly. I know, I know, I have had my hands full fighting off the cancer, but that doesn't take away from the empty feeling you get by not working. It eats away at you after a while. These are the thoughts I've been contending with over the past couple of weeks. One thing I didn't want to do was rush back to work because I was bored, but getting the green light from my doctors and being able to slowly adjust back in was reason enough to pull the trigger and close the "Leave of Absence" chapter of this story. And I must tell you it feels pretty damn good. I'm really looking forward to becoming a normal contributing citizen once again.

On the medical side of things all is good. My counts continue to stay within the very good range, which is where they have been for the last month or so. The really good news is that I have been feeling good along with that. I have had a couple of days here and there where things haven't been so good and life has been tough, but for the most part I have been feeling great and slowly feel like I'm getting back to my old self. I unfortunately have a pigment thing working on my face where it looks like I have a sun burn. This is really just a side effect of the medications I'm on in conjunction with the bout of rejection I went through a couple of months ago, but to be honest with you, I could care less. I'll take feeling well and having good counts all day long if means I have to cruise around with a seemingly sun burnt face. After you've gone through things like body changes, weight fluctuations, hair loss, skin rashes, etc, having a bit of a red face is laughable. One of the many lessons I will take away from this whole experience will certainly be how unimportant the physical appearance is compared to that person’s character. Through the amazing actions I witnessed from the people who supported me through all of this, I could see the true beauty of what's inside and conversly how unimportant the outside is. Ok starting to ramble, somebody please push me off the soapbox.

Now comes of course the Light the Night plug. I hope to see you all there because it is going to be quite an event. Here is the link once again for those of you looking to get more information or donate or both. http://pages.lightthenight.org/ocie/OrangeCo09/Floyd1

Thanks for reading everyone and take care of yourselves. Until next time...