December 23, 2009 9:45 PM

Always news on doctor's visit day!

Today's news was really - for the first time - a mixed bag. Some of my blood counts that have been slowly marching toward normality have continued to do so - that's the good news. The not as good news is the fact that there is evidence of chronic graft vs host disease. This evidence was indicated by some of my other counts being highly elevated - not because I didn't feel well.

Chronic, in this case, doesn't mean that it will last forever, it simply means that it occurred later in the recovery cycle - after the 100 day period. Otherwise, they call it acute graft vs host disease. Likewise, according to the doctor, this is something that happens to 50% to 70% of transplant patients and we've caught it early on.

So, what do you do about it? Well, one thing is that I go back onto one of my immuno-suppressants for a while - how long remains to be seen as it depends on how things progress from here. I am also starting on prednisone with the same conditions.

The other bummer is that we now have to go back to Boston in two weeks instead of in a month.

So, the bottom line is that I am not out of the woods yet and am still in need of your kind thoughts and prayers.

Not quite the Christmas present that I was looking for - but it certainly could have been a lot worse...

Bob