Measure of a Gentleman

Day 9 and feeling better today than I have for the past 2 days. The diarrhea has continued with the added bonus of mouth ulcers thrown into the mix. With my blood counts at rock bottom, my energy levels are also very low. That said, even though my white blood cell count remains at zero, I've maintained a good Hb of 10.6, which has meant no transfusions up till now. The biggest 'surprise' and a real plus for me so far is that I haven't picked up a fever or any kind of infection, which has meant no antibiotics. So, all being well, I start on the growth hormone injections tomorrow, which should kick start my cell production and ultimately lift my blood counts. Another plus for my transplant was the number of stem cells put back in on Day zero. They collected four bags of cells before Christmas, each containing five million stem cells. They say you need around two million cells for a successful transplant, so with more than double that fed back in (the remaining three bags have been frozen to support future transplants), I've got to be confident of a positive cell engraftment.

Anyway, enough of the medical stuff, over the last few days I've also decided on the true measure of a gentleman, and that based on that measure, I'm a true gent....a real catch!! So, over the last three days I've had to provide a stool (as in poo) sample to make sure I haven't got an infection. For the sample I was given a bed pan, sample bottle/test tube and a choice of how to present it (the nurse didn't literally give me a choice....I had to think for myself). So, should I just leave the sample in the pan, put the sample in the bottle and let the nurse clean the pan or complete a controlled release, put the sample in the bottle and clean out the pan. Well, as a true gent and in truth, feeling too guilty to let the nurse 'clean up my mess', I chose the later. So, there you have it, even when I'm not feeling at my best, I'm still too much of a gentleman to subject a nurse to stool scooping. What a gent!!