Day 24

Well, what can i say? The only consistency i've had throughout the last year and a half of this is that the docs say one thing, and then something else happens, lol. the docs found out from my biopsy that i have another sort of viral infection that may have been the reason (in addition to not having enough donor cells) for the original transplant not working. so now they are going to treat that and make sure its gone before giving me another transplant. i was told that process could take up to two weeks, which isn't too bad because it would have taken time to prep and harvest the next batch of stem cells from my donor. the main stink in all of this is that it has really thrown us off of our timeline for staying here, and although we are very blessed to have options, its still a little frustrating when your plans are constantly being altered. obviously, i miss my wife and kids and arkansas, but it hasn't been too hard on me to roll with the punches so far. unfortunately, steph is the super organized orchestrater and things usually end up falling on her shoulders to take care of, so i'm really hating it for her right now more than anything. bottom line is that by my count, it seems as though we are currently 4 or 5 weeks behind our original return schedule, which was october 8th. looks like i will be here until at least mid-november. man, that sounds so far away, but it honestly feels like i've only been here for a week or so instead of almost 5 , so at least time is flying by. i'll continue to update on this site, just probably not as frequently until transplant time comes around again. please know that i am feeling very well. i'm keeping busy, plenty of stuff to do, not wasting away or anything. okay, will keep in touch. take care!

Day 23

Everything ok. just getting in some z's. will play catch up tomorrow. take care.

Day 21

Okay, so to recap and elaborate a bit on my last post... after i put it up, the next day my primary doc here (as opposed to the rounding docs i usually see) came for a visit and explained that he thinks that the issue was, in fact, quantity. he doesn't think they harvested enough stem cells to reach a breakpoint level where they could have a chance of engrafting. i had a bone marrow biopsy number 19 or 20 yesterday(one of the least painful yet) just so they could take a look and get an idea of what is or isn't being produced, or if they could find any more cancerous cell growth they they would expect. should hear something on that in a couple of days. based on those results, they will request another harvest of stem cells from the donor, who has already agreed (way to go, donor) to give again. the first pack of stem cells looked like a big ziplock back of tomato soup, so hopefully we can get a couple of helpings of that stuff this time.

On the lighter side, i've had a streak of very easy-going nurses over the last few days and that always makes things better. too bad that streak had to end today. woke up with some pain in my eyes like they were sensitive to light or something. mentioned it to the nurse, who freaked out when she saw the blood that had collected in my eyes because she had never taken care of me before today (the blood in the eye thing developed several weeks ago, nothing new) so she called for an opthamologist to visit the room just in case. fine by me, wouldn't want to take a chance with my vision anyway. so i get up and grab the laptop, as per usual, so i can catch up with my daily crap that i keep myself busy with... make a list of crap i want to watch from tvguide.com, fb, ft, twitter. all this unimportant stuff that is very much important to me now since it is my main means of socializing. internet is down. not cool. had a movie to watch, but figured i'd save it for later and catch up on some sleep. eyes were hurting and they were about to knock me out for transfusions anyway. wake up five or so hours later. eye pain gone, internet working, good deal. that's when transport shows up to wheel me down to the eye doc. crap. i get dressed up, gloved, glowned, masked up, and begin the death trip down to the eye doctor (death trip because the woman pushing me in my mandatory wheelchair is making me lean forward and hold tony stark (my i.v. pole) instead of locking it onto the wheelchair where it goes. as soon as i am dropped off i'm told that the doctor had to visit a patient in their room for some emergency, so i proceed to sit for an hour, sweating like the fat boy that i am in all my awesome looking germ prevention gear. after that hour passes, they start doing all these eye exam tests. why? i was here six weeks ago for this, and more importantly, there was something specifically wrong with my eyes this morning, and now its gone. i think we're okay here. next thing you know, my eyes are dilated. so much for using the laptop for the next few hours. doc finally comes back, everyone realizes that they're idiots and i'm a genius and send me back to my room where the nurse's assistant is waiting to give me some baditude because no one told her that i was off the floor when she came to take some routine vitals. really? really? so i did what any mature person would do when faced with someone else's trivial crap. i gave her the dead arm when she tried to take my blood pressure. i'm pretty sure she had broken out in a sweat by the time she wrestled that cuff around my arm. thanks alot, ma'am. see you in four hours for round two. take care.

Day 19

Sorry for missing a day or so. I like to enjoy the weekends, too, even though every day is exactly the same. So still 0 white count. Today the doctor did mention that although there was no need to be too concerned unless we get up to 28 without anything, but in an effort to be proactive, they are going to do another bone marrow biopsy(#18? maybe?) tomorrow and check things out, and if necessary, they're going to contact my donor and try to harvest more stem cells. it was explained to me the sometimes it can simply be a matter of quantity, and i'm not the smallest guy around. that's the main reason why cord blood is usually not used for adult transplants... not enough. so i'll admit that i was a little caught off guard by the news. my efforts to stay optimistic usually involve a good deal of denial, and so if i'm not producing any white cells right now, i'm pretty much dependent on this hospital to keep me alive with no ability to fight infection. this freaked me out a little, but then the doc came back and explained that there's no reason to fret just yet, that my protoplasm levels and overall health was one of the main factors at play here, and that they were doing just fine. this may involve a longer stay, which isn't the greatest news, but is perfectly alright with me at this point. so i'm sure all the worry warts will worry, and you that pray will pray, but don't lose your head and i won't lose mine and we'll all be alright here, alright? ok more info to follow later. take care.