Day 70

So today is day 70 since my diagnosis. I'm in the hospital riding out my 3rd round of chemo and I'm feeling great.  I am at what the doctors are calling my low point, meaning all of my blood counts including my immune system are at 0 or close to it.  I've been receiving regular platelet and blood transfusions.   I have been reacting to the platelets with hives and swelling in my face.  If you've ever seen the movie Hitch, with Will Smith, you'll get the idea.  Actually its not that bad.

I have a dry erase board in my room where I write my blood count goals and other health related goals, like "no fever".  The big one is to keep my platelets above 10 so that I can ride my exercise bike and go for walks.  Yesterday my mental focus on keeping my platelets over 10 worked. Which is awesome because typically everyday I'll get a platelet transfusion and by the next day they are all gone.   I kept them at 14 and had a good session on the bike.  Its a Schwinn Aerodyne Evolution Comp.  As you can see from the photo, this is a high performance machine.  I'm pretty sure the 'comp' stands for competition model.  When I ride it creates a torrent of wind and noise that wrecks my mom's hairdo.   So far I can do 30 minutes...hoping to get up to an hour before I leave here.

Remarkably, despite the chemo, I still have my hair.  I was kind of hoping to lose it, at least in certain places, but apparently its there to stay.  I've lost 40 lbs since all this began, but I've been working hard on eating even when I don't want to in preparation for the stem cell transplant, and I've gained 6 lbs back.  

For those of you who haven't heard I have a donor lined up.  Apparently she's 53 years old and a perfect 12 out of 12 match.  While I would prefer to have 21 year old male viking, stem cells are stem cells.  My mom says I'm going to get hot flashes now.  Anyhow, the plan as it stands now is to head to Dana Farber in 4 weeks for the transplant.  I can't wait to get that over with.