Today’s update

ANC’s are coming back (200), white blood cells are up to 1.0, hemoglobin is up to 9.3 and only my platelets slipped back (to 106 – but still within a good range). Oh – and did I mention I did 10 laps today (so far) and it’s just mid-day?! So I need to work on [...]

Grrr … numbers. Yeah … numbers.

ANC’s are down to 96 today – I’m hoping the trough of a bottom-trend. Platelets are up – 117! – which is really nice. Come on ANC’s – time for catching up so I can get out of here!

I got ANCs today! (again)

Woohoo! 192 ANCs just reported. Body on the mend. Maybe 420 was too high over the weekend, and I think yesterday’s zero was just wrong. 192 seems right.
I’ve been having terrible night sweats since yesterday – 4 times they needed to change my bedding last night after waking up sopping wet. I know I have [...]

Homeward bound

Don’t get too carried away – I’m not getting discharged from the hospital immediately, but soon-ish. We are watching my blood numbers for positive signs of recovery so that I can go home and get more rest – physical, spiritual and emotional.
Key indicators will be the return of my platelets which are progressing nicely [...]

On to round 3 …

The last round of chemo knocked the leukemia down from 80% to 60% – a good improvement, but not what we were hoping for. Also, my brother, Alan, is not a compatible bone marrow donor.
The way forward is clear now:

I will spend the next week to 10 days in hospital as some of my blood [...]

4 laps today

I did four laps around the floor today. G-d, how boring. But it started because I wanted more ice in my cup and as I passed the nursing station, one nurse told me I had a lot of mail. I couldn’t carry the cup, push the stick (I was getting an IV infusion of something [...]

Russell has arrived

Russell has arrived
Originally uploaded by sdpalmer.

For a week now, my good friend in Australia, Steve, has been asking me if “Russell” arrived. I had no idea what he was talking about and he was keeping it awfully cryptic. Well – Russell arrived today – a plush Rhino that’s been on Steve’s bed for many years. [...]

It’s not the mumps!

Woohoo! Results of the CAT scan are back. I have an inflammation/infection that we are  going  to continue to treat with a specialized anti-biotic and monitor progress.  There is nothing to drain since the inflammation is in the muscle itself.
Did the bone marrow biopsy today. That went really well – got good samples today. Results [...]

Mumps?

So this thing growing in my lymph node under my jaw may be the mumps! It got worse overnight – I spiked a fever at 103.3 but a little Tylenol helped to bring that down. The growth is bigger this morning and is causing some annoying pain – will have to ask for Oxy later. [...]

Wasn’t my best Saturday

I think some of the full force of the emotions around losing my dad finally hit yesterday. I was terribly depressed and sad and crying in the morning. The enormity of it was finally hitting me – not just the loss, but it’s the loss goes on when there are estate matters that need to [...]

Evening update

It’s funny – even though I’m off the chemo and feeling much stronger, there are times when I just get wiped. There was something important I really wanted to write about but my brain is just a little too “wet” tonight to write it, whatever it was … the thought has completely slipped by.
Got platelets [...]

Overdue update

I know it’s been a while since I wrote last. It’s been a very difficult week. I cannot begin to explain what it’s been like getting through my father’s passing while still on chemo. It took every ounce of strength I had and I was so weak at the end of the last round. I [...]

My father has died – the other side of who shall live …

[NOTE: Please do not send condolence cards to the hospital - please only send get better cards to the hospital. All other correspondence can be sent to my home. If you need addresses, please let me know by email.]
My father was fortunate enough to have made it down to Philadelphia to see me last Friday [...]

28 days in hospital

My hair is falling out, my counts are low and I’m getting a little more sluggish. I’ve been in touch with some long-lost friends and distant family and it’s all been helping. For the first time, the weather outside (frigid today here in PHL) seems to have seeped into my room a little and I [...]

Yup – gettin’ blood today

Amazing how in-tune with my body I’ve become. I woke up this morning feeling relatively good but then as the morning drew on I knew I needed some red blood today. And of course it’s coming. Like usual, I feel a little feint and not much like doing anything. I hope it comes before I [...]

Quiet day yesterday

It was one of those amazingly quiet days yesterday. I think despite the move in the middle of the night, I was just having one of those exhausting days and I slept through most of the day. Late afternoon, finally woke up, had dinner, saw friends and spent time watching a few West Wing episodes. [...]

Room change

At 1am this morning, the nurse came to me and said that they had to change my room. The room I was in had a special feature called negative air flow which is sometimes needed for certain patients – not for me. Well – it was a nice run – almost a month in this [...]

2nd day of 2nd round of chemo

Last night we started the 2nd round of chemo – that’s considered day 1 or 7; today was day 2 – I just got injected with the Daunarubicin. Cumulatively, this is day 21 on the chemo regiment and that’s how the blood chart reads. To minimize confusion, I will use that number. It’s day 24 [...]

Who shall live and who shall die?

Ever since this whole episode of my life started, my mind has zoomed in the Yom Kippur prayer that asks, in the new year, “Who shall live, and who shall die”, and then goes on to list all the various ways a person may die. The prayer concludes each section that prayer, attrition, and acts [...]

There’s going to be a round 2 of chemo

So my first round of chemo didn’t get the results we were hoping for and I need to have a second round of chemo to try to bring my counts down even lower. Until we get the results of this second round of chemo, we won’t know if I’ll need a bone marrow transplant, and [...]