2007calendars,
home
May 09, 2007 , Day 203
Friends,
The last week has been very busy for us. I have been speaking at Information Meetings for the LLS. I think I have done 6 of them so far. I am still riding, but nothing spectacular to report. I have been working a lot on my fundraising. I really appreciate the donations I have received to this point. I had surgery on a cyst on my shoulder yesterday, and a pentamidine treatment today before my doctor appointment. I have not used my walking stick for 6 days! I still use Menchie, but I will probably always lean on Menchie one way or another, as she leans on me also.
I am going to try to keep my fundraising web site updated with my training progress, so look there for updates on cycle training. That web site is listed at the end of this message.
As usual, my doctor appointment went real well. Most of my numbers are up today, except my platelets. My doctor was really mean to me. He went down the list of my lab reports and told me all the numbers until he got to platelets. He told me they had dropped to 47, and just looked at me. Then he smiled and told me to keep riding my bike. Everything else was good. He is very happy with my progress. Interestingly, a couple of weeks ago, Menchie accidentally slipped me some cheese in a sandwich. I had no reaction whatsoever. I asked my doctor about the allergy. He said it was very possible that the stem cell transplant has affected my allergy, but that it is impossible to tell to what degree. One possibility is that the antigens were cleaned out from my system, and that I by eating the cheese, I will find the allergy is back the next time I eat dairy. It is also possible that the transplant actually cured the allergy, and I am no longer allergic to dairy. My doctor recommended that I carefully try to eat dairy products, keeping benedryl handy. Wouldn't it be something if stem cell transplants cured allergies! I'm not sure I would recommend the treatment, but there are not to many upsides to a stem cell transplant.
I have been experiencing what I guess is called survivor's guilt. When I was in prisoner of war training for the Navy, one of the techniques used to break people was to torture someone you cared about until you broke down and gave the interrogators information. You see this kind of thing all the time in the movies or on TV where a gun to the head of the hero doesn't work so the bad guy grabs the girlfriend and puts the gun to her head. This is very similar to how I feel about others getting sick and not surviving, while I keep going. The only thing is, there is no bad guy to give information to. There is nothing I can do about it. I can't fix it except by doing whatever I can to help, and hope that some day we find out how to eliminate blood cancers. Considering this led me to examine my feelings about friends who didn't make it. I think I have blocked off my feelings about this to protect myself emotionally. I am not sure I like this. I guess I need to find a middle ground somewhere between emotional incapacitation and emotional desensitization. I also feel like I am in a transition again. I guess life is made of transitions. This transition is kind of strange. My quality of life is improving enough that it is no longer very unpleasant. I find that I am not accepting the possibility of dying any more, even though I am far from out of the woods.
On the medical front, no medication changes. The GVHD on my shins is almost gone. My tongue is still pretty much the same. Creatinine was down to 1.4. The doctor wants to see me again in 3 weeks instead of 2!
Lab results: Blood counts are mixed again, but mostly up.
Lab Results |
Blood Cell Type |
Normal Low |
03/20 |
03/27 |
04/13 |
04/26 |
05/08 |
|
| WBC |
4.5 |
3.7 |
4.2 |
4.1 |
3.5 |
4.2 |
| RBC |
4.3 |
2.40 |
2.43 |
2.28 |
2.37 |
2.45 |
| HGB |
13.9 |
9.8 |
9.7 |
9.1 |
9.6 |
10.1 |
| PLT |
130 |
45 |
55 |
50 |
54 |
47 |
Ted and Menchie
tw@wilcoxent.com
mench@wilcoxent.com
www.wilcoxent.com
2007calendars, home