October 18th, 2008 (Day 0 - 5)

Hi everyone and greetings from the hospital. Before I get started, I'd like to explain the date above (Day 0 - 5). Day 0 is the day I am scheduled to get my new immune system via stem cell transplant. They call it day 0 because everything going forward will work off of that day. It makes it much easier for the doctors to work with when communicating with each other because that is obviously the critical day that everything stems from. So Day 0 - 5 means that I will be getting my transplant in 5 days, on Wednesday. For example, 2 days after transplant the date will read Day 0 + 2, or simply + 2. Now onto the message.

I just checked back in today after being home for a few great weeks. I certainly had my ups and downs during that time which I wrote about, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that it was a nice and needed break from the hospital. I spent some quality time with Floyd, had a phenomenal early birthday party (Thanks Marc, Christine and Evey), and was able to spend the last few days in San Diego at a work event. I wasn’t there for work but it was really cool catching up with some old friends and spending time with people I haven’t seen in a while. Well all good things must come to an end and as difficult as it was to walk back through the hospital doors today, I am very eager to get going on the final phase of my treatment. The final phase consists of 2 days of chemo which will be Saturday and Sunday, 3 days of full body radiation which happens twice a day from Monday through Wednesday, then straight to the stem cell transplant on Wednesday night. These 5 days of treatment should pretty much annihilate my immune system to the point where the cells in my bone marrow are completely wiped out. For all intents and purposes, I will have no immune system on Wednesday night which is what you need to go forward with the stem cell transplant.

The stem cell transplant is a very non-invasive procedure for both the donor and me. On the donor side it consists of a lengthy process of taking blood out, filtering that blood for the stem cells it needs, then putting the unused blood back in. This is done over the course of four days for four hours each day. So it’s not necessarily a painful procedure on the donor’s end, but it takes a hell of a long time and is certainly a disruption to his life. For that I will forever be in is debt, even though I have no idea who he is. What I do know is that he is 29 years old, is in very good health and is from Sweden. On my side, the procedure consists of a basic blood transfusion where they pump in the new stem cells via my IV. It’s that simple. The amazing thing is that these stem cells for whatever reason know exactly where to go and what to do as soon as they enter my system. In fact, they should start attaching to my empty marrow inside of 30 minutes.

In my last blog, I gave you a brief understanding of blood counts and what the numbers mean. My counts over the last week and a half have continued to go up and get healthier. Although I haven’t felt the best over the last week or so, my counts are showing that my immune system continues to grow, and that is a great sign of things to come as my body takes to the stem cell transplant. As of right now, my white blood cell count is at 6,500 which means I have an immune system as good as anyone healthy and cancer free. My hemoglobin count is at 9.4 which means there are normal amounts of oxygen being delivered throughout my body. And finally my platelet count is at 127,000 which means all is good from a healing perspective. So with that said, all is good and I can only hope I have the same sort of recovery post transplant. My doctors are very optimistic that all will go very well and this will be a huge success. That was really good to hear from them and as a result, Evey and I are just as optimistic.

That’s it for now everyone. Take care of yourselves, be well and I’ll catch up soon. I will try to write every other day or so depending on how I feel.