I’m back and here to say that I appear to be on an every three day pace, which is a little less frequent than I would like but I will keep this as a maximum time allowed between installments. Today I am not going to be creative, purposely anyway, or overly serious, some of you have been asking very direct and valid questions about me and the treatment so I will attempt to answer those without going into inappropriate levels of detail.
In the past week my parents and brother have been tested for a possible bone marrow match should I decide to have a Bone Marrow Transplant, which may be a solid treatment option that could improve my chances of a long-term cure.
Of the three people tested the Doc’s have identified two potential donors, which is a very important option. A Transplant is not forefront in my mind right now but it is a big step to have out of the way as many Patient’s in my situation have great difficulty identifying a donor. My Dad is the best match and he will most definitely be my donor should we go down that road in the future, and my brother is also a potential donor but not as closely matched as my Dad. I will try to explain why later.
Let’s put this into sports terms, and think how much money I’d be worth on the free agent market if I got a base hit 2 out of 3 times in baseball, or hit jump shots with a proficiency of 2 for 3, or best of all if I scored 2 goals for every 3 shots I took on the ice.
The Numbers, My Numbers: Well I am not so proud to say that I am presently tipping the scales at 193 pounds, so you know that is a drop of over 20 pounds as I normally come in around 212-217. But I guess that’s to be expected, however that doesn’t mean I have to like it. Little story: My younger brother, who stands around 6′ 7-8″ and weighs approx. 180 pounds, was nicknamed Slim, by me when we were much younger and has been called Slim by most everyone ever since. He has taken great delight from the fact that I may be on the track to dip below him in the weight category. Should this happen he has decided that he will call me “Slimmer”, which is not a name that I’m crazy about however if I look back he didn’t have much of a say in his nickname, I guess nicknames are supposed to be like that.
Back to the numbers: My blood counts still continue to fluctuate between OK and not OK, I get blood products about every second day, they are red blood cells and platelets. The red cells in particular give me a little energy, although I haven’t been able to detect a noticeable difference, but I’m sure it exists. #’s, over 4 hours, that is how much time I have spent outside the hospital in the past two days, I have reached the point of day passes and have been fortunate enough to get out for about 2 hours at a time, that is about all I can handle at this point. This trend will continue with any luck, however the major obstacle is my blood levels, if they are not up to scratch then I need transfusions and my ability to get out then depends on the timing of the blood, which can often take all day to arrive and administer.
As far as the numbers go that is really all I can think of, if there are other things you would like to know write and tell me or save your question and ask me next time I’m in your environment, I will do my best to get you the answers. I will leave you with my “lines, thoughts and other stuff” line, this one may strike you funny as it did me the first time I said it but the more I say it the more I realize I mean it.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t change places with anyone right now.”
I’m not sure what that means exactly, except that maybe I view this as such a good opportunity I wouldn’t pass it up for anything. And yes maybe the chemo has started to rot my brain, but hey I’m just tellin’ ya how I feel!!
More coming soon, next installment should be good. (I think I’m going to have to start “advanced selling” of next weeks “shows”, hahaha)
Geoff
#4
