Tuesday, July 15th, 2008

So go ahead and chalk up another round of chemo. Finished my last bag of round two on Monday night with again, minimal side effects. I got hit much harder this time by fatigue, but not much of anything else. I'll take having to nap a couple of times a day over the alternative any day. So again, I feel pretty fortunate to have made it through another barrage of chemo without having to deal with all of the negative effects that usually go along with it.

As you probably read from my last blog, my hair is completely gone...I'm bald... and it's a trip. There is no question I look like a mutant, but the benefits totally outweigh the negatives. Upkeep alone is reason enough to shave your head. No more bed head which has come in real handy with all of my fatigue. I just pop out of bed and I'm good to go. Throw some water on my face and I'm a new man. For those of you on the fence, I highly recommend it...that is if you can get past the fact that you look like a Martian. If I can get past that, so can you. In all seriousness, it still is a bit shocking when I see my bald noggin, but I am quickly getting used to it so it should be nothing in no time.

As far as tests and results go, we are still about a week away from finding out if my brother Steve is a bone marrow match. We are all waiting very patiently for that one. In the meantime, they already have everything they need from me, so they are going through the non-family donor database now looking for possible matches so they have options beyond Steve just in case we may need to go down that path.

I should get results in the next 2-3 weeks from the chemo round I just went through. They are going to wait a little bit longer on this one and let the chemo do it’s work. The end result here is to get into remission, so that is what we will be focusing on.

I am lucky enough to get to go through yet another spinal tap tomorrow. They want to take a look at the amount of pressure my spinal fluid could be putting on my spinal chord. I thought I was the lucky one to have two of these things done. Just imagine my surprise when they told me I get to have yet another. I tell you, there is nothing like having a 4 inch needle shoved into your spine…3 times. Wow, I really am lucky.

So that’s about it everyone, not much else to report on. Thanks for reading and writing. We'll catch up tomorrow.