Day -4

It is about 1:00 in the afternoon on Day -4, and I am feeling great. I didn't feel any real side-effects or symptoms after the first day of treatment. I am sure that will change, the only question is to what degree. If you consider that in the first rounds of chemo that I received in Ann Arbor I received these drugs over 5 consecutive days. Yesterday I received a much higher dose, equal to what I received over the entire five days. I will get more of the same today and tomorrow, so if my calculations are correct (and I will have to check with the nurse), I am receiving about what I received in 3 rounds previously (which were spread out over 5 days, 2 weeks between each round) in 3 consecutive days. So I am pleased with how well I feel today, but am still waiting for the show to fall. Nonetheless, I am ready to take this head-on. I may not enjoy the next couple of weeks, but I am not nearly as fond of the alternative. In the end this will be a small price to pay.

My blood counts remain up. I will likely take about 3 days to see a significant drop. Thankfully that means I will be able to eat more of my Mom's homemade cookies until they do drop. I will update the blog daily with my numbers. They are tracking them on a dry erase board in my room. I will post them in chart form each day using the following shorthand; W=white blood cells, H=hemoglobin, and P=platelets. So here are today's numbers:

W=36.3

H=10.7

P=57

All of these are very good, and are still likely related to the Neupogen that had been taking from last Saturday through Thursday.

We have received some requests for photos. Below are photos of Megan and Ethan's visit to the hospital the last couple of days. The final few show the apheresis machine, with all the many tubes of my blood running through it. So if you don't want to see that, don't scroll down to the last couple of photos.