Things are going well -- the medical team was amused yesterday when they asked how Sam was doing and I said "He's mostly bored."

The attending's reply: "That's kind of what we're shooting for."

And that's the situation. Sam's numbers looking good (no white blood cells engrafting yet and platelets & hemoglobin still low, all as expected), his activity level good (getting up to shower, game, do a little physical therapy each day), his mood good. No fevers so far. And now that he's off the benedryl, he's much less tired than he was.

The team is especially happy that Sam's continuing to eat food by mouth each day -- protein drinks & bananas -- and apples were the big exciting development yesterday. This is all important so that his digestive system keeps functioning as well as possible. 

Sam wants to eat more, actually -- he's started thinking about getting a burger in particular -- but his mouth & throat probably would object, and it all may still make him nauseous (he tried his favorite ramen Sunday, but couldn't stand the smell). Maybe next week.

Otherwise, sleep has been better without the monitors hooked up, and so the nights haven't been quite so long, and the days have been more positive.

Doc says we should expect to see signs of engraftment by the weekend, and it's possible that he'll get to go home a week after that. 

I expect we'll have some ups & downs between here & home, but going well. (It's even possible, although not 100% confirmed with his teacher, that he actually, finally, truly turned in his last math test yesterday -- a so-far elusive goal.)

Day by day, we'll see what today brings. We're now 16 days into this hospitalization, with 12 - 20 left. Winnable, as Sam says.