A Break In The Action

Not much going on with me until next Friday's appt. with the Nurse Practitioner. I feel good and folks that haven't seen me in awhile say I'm looking good. Hair is starting to come back and I'm shaving regularly (not daily). Using an electric razor to avoid nicks and cuts and bleeding issues.

Speaking of...That Bo down in North Carolina is just showing off. His mother e-mailed me yesterday and told me that his platelet count the other day was 420. Low end of normal is 140. Gotta love the vigor of youth.

Going to share a story or two the next couple of days about some of my stem cell collection alumni. I'm not going to name them by name but want you to know about them as they have interesting stories.

The first one I will tell you about is an older lady who was diagnosed with a form of Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma in December 2007. She told me that her symptoms were the same as mine (bloating) and when she went to the doctor he told her she came in just in time. She went through chemo and radiation and thought they had gotten it under control. It came back later on and she became a candidate for the autologous stem cell transplant therapy. I had the pleasure of meeting her husband and they are huge college football fans. We had good conversation during clinic days when we were in there together. On the second day of stem cell collection, her husband brought her a pint of ice cream to eat. She introduced us all to him. As he was leaving and within ear shot, I asked her, "Didn't your husband have different color hair yesterday?" That's one of my favorite questions to ask someone I've met before when I haven't met their significant other previously. She was very well liked by the staff and the last I saw her a few weeks ago, she was on her way to radiology to have her lines removed. As I had mine removed a few days before her, I didn't tell her about my experience. Didn't want to scare her and also, she may not have had as hard a time with it as me. Her oncologist is in the same practice as mine, so we may run into each other again. I regret that I didn't exchange contact info with her and her husband, but I believe we will run into each other again. The thing that most impressed me about her was her spunk and desire to keep going in spite of the return of her alien.

“May you never forget what is worth remembering, nor ever remember what is best forgotten”