I went to the clinic this morning for labs. My blood numbers looked good. My platelets grew to 80,000; however, my red and white cells are dragging, which is not unusual at this point. I feel great, but sometimes get very winded and dizzy. I'm eating a lot, but my weight is down 21 pounds to 170.
There was a scare. Forget the TMI line for a minute; there just isn't any other way to say this. From Sunday morning at 4:00 till Monday at 10:00 am, I had 15 bowel movements. My doc gave me a prescription for Budesonide; however, the nurse failed to call it into my pharmacy. Dr Patel called to check on me and to make sure I was taking the new med. She was surprised I didn't have it and got the prescription quickly sent to the pharmacy around 7:00 pm. I then received an email directing me to take it ASAP. The following morning there was another email telling me to notify the clinic if things got worse. Finally, Dr Patel called again to see how I was doing. I knew something was up. It turns out bowel issues are a serious sign of transplant rejection and she was on verge of admitting back into the hospital. This tale (seems like the proper word to use) has a happy ending. The new drug calmed everything down. I'm normal again, my doc is happy, and I remain at home with my darling wife.
As noted previously, I'm only the third person in medical history to have lymphoma transform into leukemia, which left me with two incurable diseases. The two previous patients died before transplant. The doc who saw me this morning came into my little room and announced, "So, your the famous patient." Live or die, my case will get written up in some medical journal, so I'm doing all I can to make it a happy ending. I'm sure the article will address blood numbers, chemo and the transplant. However, it can't possibly measure the importance of faith, great friends, family, prayer, or a sense of humor. Thanks for your support through this process. At this point, everything is about as good as possible...much better than anyone expected back in May.
Doug,
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear every thing is back to normal... BTW... TMI line not crossed... Love reading your blog and seeing how upbeat and positive you are! Love the comment about the importance of faith, family, prayer and sense of humor!! Your doctors understand the "black and white" world... wouldn't it be cool if they could see it in "color'? Our God is so good!! I continue to keep you in my prayers... and sorry to sound like a broken record, but it will be cool to meet you eye to eye someday sooooon!!!
Randal