Tomorrow is the start of a new year and a new decade. I hope every one of us will enjoy a wonderful 2010. I hope we enjoy peace and prosperity. I hope we will be blessed with joy and happiness. I hope we will enjoy the beauty of the world around us. I hope we will be bathed in the love of friends and family. I will raise a glass tonight and offer a toast wishing you all a wonderful 2010.
Monday, I resume chemotherapy, so I am hoping 2010 will bless me with a long, uneventful remission.
Oh! I almost forgot. I hope one of you will win the Powerball!
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Very good news
I had a blood test Monday and I have been anxiously pacing beside the telephone, practically begging Nurse K to call me. I had been warned at the lab that, since additional tests were being made, especially M-spike, the tests would take longer to be evaluated and reported to Dr. Hema.
Nurse K just called. My hemoglobin is now 12.7, up from 12.2. That's a great improvement. The normal range, depending on who you read is 13 or 14 to 18. I am rapidly approaching normal!
The M-spike reading was 1.07, down from 3.16 in October. A person in remission would have a reading of zero.
Last October, the IgM reading was an alarming 5120 versus a normal range of 60-263. Today, the level is 1520. That's still a high number, but shows tremendous improvement!
Today's weight: 174.
All of these signs point to great improvement and trending towards remission. My overall health and energy bear this out. I feel better now than I have in several years.
Needless to say, I am very happy. My adorable wife is very happy. I resume treatments on January 4 and hope that my numbers will continue to improve.
What a wonderful Christmas gift I have received!!!
Nurse K just called. My hemoglobin is now 12.7, up from 12.2. That's a great improvement. The normal range, depending on who you read is 13 or 14 to 18. I am rapidly approaching normal!
The M-spike reading was 1.07, down from 3.16 in October. A person in remission would have a reading of zero.
Last October, the IgM reading was an alarming 5120 versus a normal range of 60-263. Today, the level is 1520. That's still a high number, but shows tremendous improvement!
Today's weight: 174.
All of these signs point to great improvement and trending towards remission. My overall health and energy bear this out. I feel better now than I have in several years.
Needless to say, I am very happy. My adorable wife is very happy. I resume treatments on January 4 and hope that my numbers will continue to improve.
What a wonderful Christmas gift I have received!!!
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Round Two
My second round (of six!) treatments is complete. These treatments take place every day for five days, then four weeks off, then every day for five days, etc. My adorable wife and I traveled to Big City every day this last week and I had an hour or so of infusion. They leave the IV in my arm for three days and remove it at the end of treatment Wednesday; a new IV is inserted Thursday, which remains until treatment is finished on Friday. Yes, gentle readers, that means you get to sleep with a sharp needle in your arm four nights out of five. Just part of the price you pay for lymphoma and its treatment, I suppose.
I had another very sad moment in the infusion room; I saw a young couple, in their 20s, I'd guess. The young woman was in the chair being fussed over with great care and compassion by the nurses who work the infusion therapy room. The man was in a visitors chair acting the part of the caring, compassionate partner.
I actually left the facility in tears.
It's one thing to get a cancer diagnosis at age 66, when you have lived a very full life, spent many years married to the love of your life and have lived long enough to hug your grandchildren. It's quite another to get such a diagnosis at, say, age 25, when much of your whole life is yet before you. For her, it will be quite different from what she and her partner hoped for. I am praying that she will have an early remission and a long life.
I am doing quite well. My health and energy are just great. My weight is steady at 172 and I hope I have not created a gravy biscuit monster! My next blood test is in two weeks, instead of one week, because Dr. Hema is so impressed with my progress. I will have a respite from treatments until January 4. All the better to enjoy the holidays!
I hope you will all enjoy the holidays, too. Hug each other from me. We never know what the future holds and I am quite sure you can not overdose on hugs!
I had another very sad moment in the infusion room; I saw a young couple, in their 20s, I'd guess. The young woman was in the chair being fussed over with great care and compassion by the nurses who work the infusion therapy room. The man was in a visitors chair acting the part of the caring, compassionate partner.
I actually left the facility in tears.
It's one thing to get a cancer diagnosis at age 66, when you have lived a very full life, spent many years married to the love of your life and have lived long enough to hug your grandchildren. It's quite another to get such a diagnosis at, say, age 25, when much of your whole life is yet before you. For her, it will be quite different from what she and her partner hoped for. I am praying that she will have an early remission and a long life.
I am doing quite well. My health and energy are just great. My weight is steady at 172 and I hope I have not created a gravy biscuit monster! My next blood test is in two weeks, instead of one week, because Dr. Hema is so impressed with my progress. I will have a respite from treatments until January 4. All the better to enjoy the holidays!
I hope you will all enjoy the holidays, too. Hug each other from me. We never know what the future holds and I am quite sure you can not overdose on hugs!
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