January 2, 2009 10:10 PM

Gotta remember it's 2009 - not 2008. Still somewhat of a challenge.

Good news! My pulmonary is perfect!!!!!

Boy, they have your breathing in and breathing out every last bit of air that you possibly can for 4 different tests. The first 3 basically are used to provide parameters for the fourth one which is the only test of interest to the doctors. The set for the last test is a computer screen with 2 lines on it. One with the ideal amount of air that your should exhale and the second one 10% below the first. The line determinations are made from the results of the first 3 as I mentioned above. For the last test, you take as deep a breath as you possibly can; then you exhale as fast as you can; and then push out every last air molecule that's in your lungs. And you have to continue the test until you exceed the 10% line!

The bottom line is that the tests check out lung capacity and lung flexibility. Having done very well, I guess that I thank our church choir director for stressing how to properly breathe when singing because it does make a big difference in how much air you can take in and how well you can sustain a note when breating out having once taken a full breath. Thanks Mark!

So the first time, I exhausted myself and exceeded the ideal line! And guess what? You get to do it a second time because they have to make sure that the first result wasn't a fluke! That time I hit the ideal line and I was done... through... finished... exhausted... I don't know if I could have done it a third time.

But the real purpose of the test is not to see that my lungs are perfect - nor is it to simply satisfy an insurance company requirement. The real purpose is to get a baseline of how my lungs normally perform. The reason being that some of the medication that I have to take after the transplant could possibly affect the performance of my lungs. So, 6 weeks after the transplant, I will have to undergo this test again to see how I literally measure up at that time.

As for my counts from this morning, everything was above the threshhold levels so I needed nothing! This meant that we went home early and was also an indication that, overall, my counts are starting to rise again. However, my white cell count is still very low. So the nurse said that I was not allowed to go to the mall. Thank God!!!

Since a few questions have arisen that I have not directly answered let me do it now for everyone. Even though early February is the targeted bone marrow transplant date, I have not heard that there has been a determination of a specific donor. I can only infer that they must be getting close because thay wish to commit to that timeframe. Secondly, even though, at the beginning it was mentioned that they could possibly use my own marrow - that has been ruled out. Even if they take my marrow when I am in full remission(as I am now), there is now way to be 100% sure that the marrow is clean and there is no way to "decontaminate" it. So they deem the risk to be too high.

Lastly, a hair update. I know that this is an important topic for some and that I have been somewhat derilect by not providing an ongoing status. One reason is that there has been no change in the status. No additional hair loss has yet occurred after round 2 of chemo. The "peach fuzz" that I have on my head is still there. In fact my facial hair is slowly returning but I cannot shave as my counts are still too low. Maybe another week or so.

I've been rather long winded today(oh, that's a terrible, terrible pun - sorry, but I just couldn't resist). So it's time to bring the entry to a close for the day.

Bob