May 26, 2004 DAY #211
Friends,
Menchie and I have been very busy the last couple of weeks. Menchie worked every day last week, and I was busy with work and volunteering. This week the pace has slowed a little bit, but we have still been very busy. I was up and about from about 6:30am until 10:00pm on Tuesday. I was tired, but not exhausted. I was a little tired Wednesday, but was still up and about for much of the day. It is wonderful to be out an functioning in a fairly normal fashion. I have been able to do a lot of walking. I walked around work with my computer without being fatigued or out of breath! For those of you who know about my work place, you know it is a pretty big feat. There are three buildings, and each building is about 1000 feet long. So walking from my office to the other end of another building and back is about 1/2 mile. Some other milestones, are that I have been able to actually run slowly and carefully. My dogs are grateful, because they like to chase me. Menchie and I went on a hike Sunday in Balboa park in some of the canyons there. I over did that, but it was fun. The muscle pain is mostly gone now, but I was a little stiff today when I sat for a while. Once I got moving I was OK. We have been going to lots of support groups, trying to be supportive. That has been very inspirational!
I want to thank all of you who have so graciously sent checks in support of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Yes, checks are starting to come in! It is a wonderful thing to see the generosity of friends. We have shirts and a design, we are waiting for another quote on getting them printed. I bought 36 shirts and will get them all printed up. Hopefully, I will have to order another batch!
I got the attached pictures from a friend, and thought I would pass them on. Hope you don't mind.
The office visit was fairly routine, except that they didn't get my blood samples to the lab soon enough and they clotted, so they had to redraw. The second lab tech thought he knew better and tried to draw blood from some place other than where I suggested, so I let him dig around for a while, and then suggested again that he try where it always works with minimal pain. Lo and behold, it worked!!!! So, no lab results yet. I doubt if there will be anything significant in them. I waited to send this email until Thursday to see if the doctor called, but he has not. The doctor said I was doing GREAT.
On the medical front, not much going on. The abdominal pain is gone. The back pain is gone. The neuropathy is retreating into my toes. The doctor cut my cyclosporine dose in half again, so I am taking 25mg once a day now. I am still being VERY careful with my diet, as my digestive system is still very sensitive.
Lab Results |
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Blood Cell Type |
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| WBC | 4.5 | 4.7 | 6.3 | 5.2 | - |
| RBC | 4.20 | 4.37 | 4.10 | 4.40 | - |
| HGB | 13.0 | 13.2 | 13.0 | 14.2 | - |
| PLT | 130 | 196 | 207 | 291 | - |
Ted
tw@wilcoxent.com