I've been meaning to mention this for some time. For a few weeks now I've been checking in every so often on David Ting's blog, which he started when he underwent a bone marrow transplant in 2006, after he was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia—the same as mine—and underwent four rounds of chemotherapy. Echoing the tradition that transplant recipients consider their transplant date as their new birthday, David starts counting from the day he received his transplant, July 5, 2006, which he refers to as Day 0. Today is day +682.

There are two things I like about David's blog, aside from the sheer amount of information from the earlier entries. First is that he starts every post that I've read with the sentence "I am fine today." Second is that most of the later posts are about everyday things. While it may seem to conform to the stereotype of bloggers writing about every insignificant thing that happens to them, the truth is that everyday things are significant to those of us who spend weeks and months in the hospital. In late March, after three months of eating almost nothing but hospital food (much of it puréed thanks to chemo-induced stomatitis), I started to make a list of food I wanted to eat when I got out of the hospital. Today I savoured a black cherry soda more than I thought possible simply because I haven't had one in half a year. I can only imagine what I'll appreciate after the rigors of a transplant.