24 Hours

Conversation with Dr. Anderson this morning:

Doug: How sick was I when I came in?  What if I hadn't of come in?

Doc:  Bad things would have happened...bad things could have happened. As the cells grow, they just reach a critical mass where they start exploding on their own and that explosion can wreek havoc on your body, dumping out their contents into the cells, and people die because of that.  Or, an infection could have come on.  Either one of those things would have killed someone in your condition if they didn't come in.

Doug:  How quickly?

Doc:  Oh, very quickly.  We're talking about within 24 hours.  If it had reached that critical mass.  Your labs were close.  Your platelets were low.  You could easily have a bleed in your head.  You sort of putter along pretty good and then all of a sudden they can turn bad.

Doug:  They say I have a gene that shows this is very aggressive.  Does that matter?

Doc:  It does a little bit.  There are some things that need to be done for that and at some point we're going to address it.

Doug:  The prognosis seems totally dependent on the bone marrow biopsy?

Doc:  Yes.

Doug:  So, if you come back a week from now and tell me I'm killing it, I'm in good shape.  If it's not killing it, I'm in bad shape?

Doc:  Right.

Summary:  The doc said things are progressing as we thought.  Your platelets went up but are drifting down again because the chemo continues to work through two weeks.  He said some people argue that chemo doesn't really start working between week one or two.  My red blood cells will drift down probably tomorrow, so I'll probably get another infusion tomorrow.  My white blood count is at 5.8, which is about the same as it was.  My kidney function looks pretty good.  Doc said everythinb looks pretty good and you look good in person.

So today is a relax day.  Take pills and vital signs.  I think I weighed 187 pounds this morning.  I think they came in at 4:30, so it's a bit hazy.  I think my weight reached something like 202.6 a few days ago when they pumping me full of fluids.  It is such a blessing to not have to pee constantly.