Day + 150

Man, I just can't tell you how stoked (happy) I get in reading the messages back to me. It’s pretty unreal for me to see how my experience has impacted so many people’s lives. I'll leave it at that but thank you all very much again.

So believe it or not, it’s been 150 days since that unbelievably generous man from Sweden, the angel on my shoulder, hooked me up with his stem cells. I just got my chymerism test results back today and all is still good, which means if you look at a full sample of my bone marrow, 100% of it is made up of my donor's marrow...and that is exactly what we want. It has been that way since they did the first test, four times ago and it remains constant through day 150 which is pretty cool.

I just wish the chymerisms report, the blood test results, the bone marrow biopsy’s, etc. all meant that if they were good then I felt good, but no sir, it does not work that way. I did have a few good days this week, today being one of them, but unfortunately the balance of the week didn’t go so well. A few of the days it was the same old muscle soreness and tightness, where going down the stairs is an adventure in itself. And the other two days I felt like I had flu symptoms which I haven’t had to deal with for a while. The whole deal…shakes, sweats, feeling just awful. Like I said, the whole nine yards. I did take my temperature and didn’t have a fever so all was fine. It was just another small stretch that I had to get through. And yes, if you picked up on the fact that I took my own temperature, and not my wife to be Evey, you were right on. I have had to do without her priceless and invaluable support and love for the past three weeks or so. Let me be fair though, she was nice enough to come home for a couple of days between trips. I’m just kidding of course. As much as I would love to have her here with me, she is really enjoying her time in the Philippines. I’m just happy she gets to experience the unbelievable qualities of that place first hand, not having to go on my word. Anyway, I got off on a bit of a tangent there. It’s certainly tough having her gone for so long, but I get to have her back in a few days so I am looking forward to that.

It was a rough week but honestly, reading through what you guys wrote really helped me get through it all. It also helps knowing that my bad days have nothing to do with my long term recovery. As horrible as those days are, knowing that all I have to do is power through them with the knowledge in the back of my head that it’s not holding up my recovery, it just makes it easier to deal. Another thing that makes it all easy to deal with, for which I feel so lucky and thankful for, is my job. I had a quick informal meeting with my boss this last week when I popped into the office, and he basically told me as he always has, that my health is the most important thing and Ingram will do whatever necessary to ensure that not an ounce of stress will come from work. Of course everyone knows that my health is the most important thing, as it should be with everyone, but it’s great to hear that from the company you work for. It’s just another reason why I am the luckiest person in the world for the support system I have. Thanks Rich!

So that’s pretty much it my friends. I thank you all once again for the unreal love and support you never cease to send my way and I wish you all a great week. I know I am going to have one, even if I do have a couple of rough days thrown in there. 150 days baby, let’s keep this train rollin’…