February 17, 2009 9:40 PM 100 days to go!

Born again!!!!

Now the countdown begins…

After an all day wait, a little after 5:00, the bone marrow arrived looking basically like a bag of blood – just a little deeper red. A half hour later, the infusion was over. During that time, the nurse monitors your temperature, your heart, and takes your blood pressure. Rarely does anything of consequence happen during the infusion and I was no exception. So everything went like clockwork once again. My wife took a picture at the moment that the infusion began - for posterity sake I guess.

Truth be told, I was probably more relaxed today than I had been during the last few days. I guess that it might have been that the wait was finally over.

Once again, all my vital signs are exactly where they should be. I feel no different after the transplant than I did before which is what everyone is looking for. In fact, my appetite is even starting to come back. A young doctor came in this evening and asked if I was suffering any nausea while I was merrily eating lasagna! What do they teach them in medical school these days?

So tomorrow, after I receive a quick 15 minute infusion of chemo at the 24 hour mark from the start of today’s infusion – I get to go home. After 8 days, it goes without saying that I am looking forward to it.

Further grasping on to any good news that I can, a friend of ours discussed my status with the father of her son-in-law who happens to be an oncologist. His thought was that I had a great chance for a full recovery. It guarantees nothing, I know, but it’s nice to hear that someone with an intimate knowledge of cancer exhibits an optimistic outlook.

So I have an undying (what a choice of words!) gratitude toward the individual who literally gave of themselves in order to help another human being that they don’t even know!

As my sister-in-law says, it’s in God’s hands now. That’s where all of you come in...

Bob