October 13, 2003
Friends,
Today was a full and busy day! It started with a trip to a dentist. My teeth are fine! I will be getting my teeth cleaned on Thursday. This is a requirement that needs to be done prior to the Bone Marrow Transplant. The idea is to get rid of anything in my mouth that might cause any sores or infections. After seeing the dentist, we went to the City of Hope in Duarte. The good news is that the Hemangioma will not have any effect on my transplant schedule. My blood counts are still good. The bone marrow biopsy went fine. It seems that the healthier I am, the more the procedure hurts. Today's was pretty painful, but just for a few seconds. The PLAN is starting to gel. I will start chemotherapy at City of Hope on October 21. I will be an outpatient staying in Hope Village for the first five days. On the sixth day, I will be admitted to the hospital as an inpatient for the final day of chemotherapy. On October 28th, I should be starting the transplant, if everything goes as planned. My brother will be coming out on the 23rd to start his preparation for his stem cell donation. Of course, the schedule could slip a little if I get a cold, but this will not effect my brother's schedule. You might ask why I would be worried about getting a cold! The unfortunate thing is that everyone else in my home has one. I am isolating myself from them, and not going out to public places to try to eliminate as much stress on my immune system as possible. I sure hope I don't get a cold, and I wish Menchie would get better soon. My next hospital visit is tomorrow and Scripps Green Hospital. If anything interesting happens there, I will send out an update.
On the medical front, nothing new yet! Stand by for next week, when the pill popping and IVs start in earnest again. They rattled off a whole bunch of drugs today, but I don't remember what they all are, and I sure can't spell them. I will get them down next week, I am sure.
Lab Results |
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Blood Cell Type |
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| WBC | 4.5 | 6.6 | 4.9 | 4.7 |
| RBC | 4.30 | 2.88 | 3.10 | 3.39 |
| HGB | 13.9 | 10.2 | 11.0 | 11.6 |
| PLT | 130 | 239 | 227 | 235 |
Have a great day!
Ted
tw@wilcoxent.com