Day +113, Wednesday

After seeing a friend’s chocolate chip cookie post on FaceBook, I took matters into my own hands. Yes, there’s an impending winter storm with ice and snow. Yes, there was traffic. Yes, my old flour was expired so I had to purchase a new bag. But I made cookies – my favorite “Pan Banging Chocolate Chip Cookies” by Sarah Kieffer. Recipe here. They were all the rage a few years ago, with the name derived from the simple act of removing partially-baked cookies from the oven and smashing them into the counter. It’s horrifying, yes, but also causes the rising cookie to collapse into itself, thus rendering a delicious gooey center and crisp edge.

They turned out amazing. And they also reminded me of baking them with my sister, KK, all those years ago. She had a good system going, one that I adopted today.

With an impending winter storm set to hit overnight, I preemptively cancelled my Thursday morning lab draw. Aw shucks. Instead, it’s been rescheduled for Friday. Through the course of the day, I also learned that I’ve got a Pentamidine breathing treatment at Mission Hospital’s Pulmonary Function Lab tomorrow at 2 pm, with a 1:30 arrival time. I’m grateful for the coordination fo Mary, my oncology nurse to get this set up.

This morning, I started by setting 3L of water on the table. Yes, it was daunting. Yes, my bladder recoiled in horror. And yes, I drank all three by 8 pm. With a giant bowl of homemade chicken soup for dinner – full of flavorful broth, I might add – my stomach is, well, processing. I’ve got my 4th liter open and next to me. I’ll see how my body does with fluids – I’m definitely retaining some in my ankles, my lymphedema acting up. My face, eyes in particular, feel puffy. Then again – I also spent 3 hours on my feet making Pan Bang Cookies, so there you go. To Be Continued.

Back to the cookies: do you know what the most challenging part for me was? Not eating the cookie dough. With raw eggs, that’s just not something that my new immune system can handle – I may have shed a tear or two. On the flip side, I’ve never had a larger cookie yield post-bake, so there’s a plus.

My body is feeling OK. No one is surprised that I need to pee as I write; chances are, I’ll need to pee again by the time you read this post, whenever that is. I’ve had a bit of a headache all day, but in some ways, I feel as though my brain is re-awakening to my life outside of the NIH and Transplant. It’s working differently than its needed to for a while – between taking care of 4 little creatures, or narrowing the direction of my post-transplant life/focus/path – its different. When the temperature drifted above 35, I started dreaming of spending time on a trail. Once we hit 40, I drove the familiar route to the Parkway, and enjoyed a relatively “warm” 4.5 mile hike. I was just happy.

Stay safe everyone! Goodnight!