Jimmy's diet

We finished our last collection procedure today; we don't expect this latest number to be very high, but that's OK. We have more than enough. Jimmy is a stem cell Scrooge: his body hoards them stingily, and fights letting them go, but persistence and three good doses of AMD3100 have persuaded him to part with well over eight million cells. During the last several months, one of our biggest fears has been that we could not harvest what was needed, so this success is a tremendous relief.

With that behind us, our new project is to build Jimmy's blood back up; they may need to give him another transfusion tomorrow, but we're also working on it from the dietary angle. When we left the hospital, we headed for a nearby restaurant, Evans Fine Foods, recommended by some of the nurses, that's sort of like Bynum's Diner in Valdosta. Jimmy over-ordered, and couldn't eat half of it, but he made a valiant effort trying. He ate baked chicken with dressing, fried eggplant, turnip greens, tomatoes and okra, and corn muffins with lots of butter. When he wakes up from his nap, I'm going to force some pre-dinner milkshakes on him, and maybe a peanut butter and banana sandwich, with French fries on the side, as instructed.

This whole thing is too surreal for words.