Day 48
Today is Day 48. The cough I developed late last week developed into a full blown cold with coughing, stuffy nose and head, sore throat, and some loss of appetite. Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were pretty miserable for me and I felt really wiped out. I still have the cough, but have felt quite a bit better the last few days.
I was at the clinic today, and they said things haven’t changed much except that my hemoglobin is down a bit again (10.8) and they’re pretty sure it is because my liver is struggling a bit and not producing enough of a hormone that stimulates the marrow to produce hemoglobin. My liver is probably struggling a bit because my body is not absorbing enough fluids. My body is probably not absorbing enough fluids because of my immuno-suppressant drug. As a result, they did 2 things. One is to reduce that drug from 6 pills a day to 5, and the other is they gave me a shot that is supposed to encourage the production of hemoglobin.
WBC – 4.0
Hgb – 10.8
Plt – 225
They also said not to be surprised if my cold hangs on longer than usual (it could be weeks) because of my condition. My reaction (not verbalized) was that I’m actually not even used to having colds, let alone how long they last.
My wife and son with whom I live are supposed to get flu shots because I am high risk. That may be a little tricky with the recent news that about half the normal supply for the U.S. will not be available this year.
Like I said, besides the coughing fits, the last few days I have felt pretty good. I continue to walk and I’m steadily increasing the distance and speed. I’m pretty sure there are no marathons in my future, but I do look forward to getting back to tennis, basketball, and bicycling. I also feel like my appetite is improving – I actually start to get hungry sometimes. Of course my weight loss has also slowed and probably even stopped for a while.
Love,
Justin
I was at the clinic today, and they said things haven’t changed much except that my hemoglobin is down a bit again (10.8) and they’re pretty sure it is because my liver is struggling a bit and not producing enough of a hormone that stimulates the marrow to produce hemoglobin. My liver is probably struggling a bit because my body is not absorbing enough fluids. My body is probably not absorbing enough fluids because of my immuno-suppressant drug. As a result, they did 2 things. One is to reduce that drug from 6 pills a day to 5, and the other is they gave me a shot that is supposed to encourage the production of hemoglobin.
WBC – 4.0
Hgb – 10.8
Plt – 225
They also said not to be surprised if my cold hangs on longer than usual (it could be weeks) because of my condition. My reaction (not verbalized) was that I’m actually not even used to having colds, let alone how long they last.
My wife and son with whom I live are supposed to get flu shots because I am high risk. That may be a little tricky with the recent news that about half the normal supply for the U.S. will not be available this year.
Like I said, besides the coughing fits, the last few days I have felt pretty good. I continue to walk and I’m steadily increasing the distance and speed. I’m pretty sure there are no marathons in my future, but I do look forward to getting back to tennis, basketball, and bicycling. I also feel like my appetite is improving – I actually start to get hungry sometimes. Of course my weight loss has also slowed and probably even stopped for a while.
Love,
Justin
1 Comments:
Justin,
If you're interested and you didn't already see Mom & Dad's copy, here's a link to a WSJ article written by a woman who had Leukemia, had a BMT, relapsed and has recovered:
http://interactive.wsj.com/dividends/retrieve.cgi?id=/text/wsjie/data/SB109718161023839579.djm&d2hconverter=display-d2h&template=dividends
If you need to login, I'll send you my acct#.
Love,
Bruce
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