February 20, 2009 11:45 PM 97 days to go

The visit to the clinic at Dana-Farber went better than I thought for I did not have to undergo any infusions other than the scheduled methotrexate chemo which is about a 15 minute process.

It's always nice to get feedback from "those in the know" and my nurse at the clinic said that I was doing extremely well - commenting that for many others in my position, it is a huge effort just to get out of bed in the morning and then get dressed. Lack of energy is not a problem for me - in fact, I have NO problems. It's funny, though, this nurse and I have bonded somewhat (because we are both New Hampshire residents) and when she sees that I am in the clinic, she goes out of her way to provide with good service. This is a huge help because the MO for the clinic is to "hurry up and wait" and it can take your forever to get something done that could have been done in munutes. She greatly reduces the wait times and it is much appreciated.

We had an appointment with the nurse practitioner who went over my medicines and talked about my counts. Everything is great! And, of course, they go through the litany of side effects that I could possibly be experiencing to which I always respond in the negative. She did say that come Monday, I would begin to become neutropenic and that it would last for about a week. This is the period that my counts fall to their lowest before they start their return to normal levels. Hopefully, this will be the third, and last, time that I have to experience this. She also commented that my having the same blood type as my donor was a big help at this time because it lessens the likelihood that I will suffer from a number of side effects that are typical at this juncture.

We saw the woman to whom I e-mailed my donor letter and she stated that she forwarded it on after reading it and being overcome with emotion. I didn't write it with that goal in mind, but, as you can imagine, this is most certainly an emotional situation. I can't publish the letter here and risk the chance that my donor somehow comes across this blog.

So, it's back to the clinic on Monday with a followup on Wednesday or Friday and then just weekly Wednesday appointments after that.

When you see everything come together so well for me, it is hard to believe that the hand of God is not touching me. A bone marrow donor was immediately found, the donor was perfect, our blood types are the same, I have this nurse/angel in the infusion lab, every bone marrow biopsy (other than the initial one) has showed no cancer cells, I have suffered minimal side effects throughout this time, the list goes on...

So keep those prayers coming, you have all done so well. And I am sure that it is rewarding to each of you to see that your prayers have been answered.

Til the next time...

Bob