December 9, 2003, DAY #42
Friends,
We live in interesting times! My appointment today was pretty uneventful. The rash is GONE! The doctor is cutting down on the prednisone. I hope this will let me sleep better. Menchie and I have been very busy preparing for our wedding. In addition, Sunday, my dad had some neurological problems and was taking to a big emergency room in Whittier. I drove down there to be with my mom and dad. Everything looked normal in all the tests. The scary part was all the people who were very sick with the Flu in the emergency room there. I was all masked up, and so was Menchie. I prevailed on my Mom and Dad to put masks on also. We even gave some masks away to others waiting in the waiting room, who didn't want to be exposed to the flu. When we got home, I threw away the mask and put all my clothes in the wash and took a shower. On the lighter side, we have been experimenting with cooking foods I can eat. Basically bland, non-spicy foods with very low acid content. We have been modifying or inventing some pretty tasty recipes. The nurses here in the bone marrow unit and clinic want me to make a recipe book. In another development, a young man who has had the same type of leukemia that I have for 3.5 years is going home later this week! This is his second transplant, from an unmatched, unrelated donor. He is doing well! This is the longest I have ever heard of anyone surviving this type of Leukemia, so I told him he is my hero. I really mean it too. It gives me lots of hope.
On the medical front, as I said, the rash is gone so we are cutting back on the Predisone slowly. Since my last appointment, I have been drinking at least 4 liters of water per day. I don't want to go back onto that night-time IV! My creatinine is back down into the normal range today. Magnesium is back into the normal range also, but the dose remains the same. I asked the doctor about the blood test they did to check to see whose blood was running in my veins, and he told me it was 100% my brother's! This is outstanding news! RBC and HGB continue to creep up. WBC was actually a little over the normal range for some reason. Maybe that trip to the emergency room. My energy is returning slowly, and I can do more and more each day.
Lab Results |
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Blood Cell Type |
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| WBC | 4.5 | 5.5 | 8.4 | 8.2 | 11.3 |
| RBC | 4.20 | 3.41 | 3.59 | 3.61 | 3.66 |
| HGB | 13.9 | 11.5 | 12.4 | 12.1 | 12.4 |
| PLT | 130 | 88 | 160 | 186 | 224 |
Ted
tw@wilcoxent.com