Tuesday, May 17- Going Home

This 21 day hospital stay has been a blessing.  When I was admitted I heard things like:

1.  You might have died in 24 hours;
2.   UT Southwestern nor the Mayo Clinic has ever seen a transformation from lymphoma to leukemia;
3.  We're stalling right now.  We don't know what chemo treatment to give you.  There are only a few known cases;
4.  You are high risk;
5.  You have a genetic expression for a very aggressive leukemia;
6.  You're in renal failure.

That all sounded like I was in real trouble.

Then, I got bags of fluid, which got my kidneys and liver working and allowed my body to flush out the chemo by products.  I gained 15 pounds and then quickly lost 33, as I peed out the fluids and lost muscle mass.  I weighed in at 178.6 this morning, down 12.4 from admittance and looking and feeling very good.  Well, the looking part is questionable, since I have no hair.

To day my ANC rose from 1,600 to 2,200.  Because it's still going up, the docs have concluded it's not just the steroids they were giving me.  My counts have recovered.  I think I am just much more fit than the average cancer patient they see.  My hemoglobin was only 7.6 (below 10), so they topped me off with another IV bag.  My platelets were 15.  Normally they would not give me any until it fell below 10, but since I'm going home I got another IV bag.  The nurses started coming in around 3:00 am to get the blood samples to the lab.  Then it was pretty continuous vitals signs and new IV bags and more vital signs.  I think it will be easier to sleep at home.  I will have a Thursaday appointment at the clinic.  I won't go home on very many meds, since I have recovered so quickly.

I have also been blessed to have received a gift of faith.  Folks God is a good God.  The proper response is to be thankful for our blessings, which for me include a very reasonable path to a cure.  Thanks for all your support and love.