Day 105

Well, I’ve passed day 100 and I’m still here. I’m not sure about the significance of 100 days, except that it seems to be where the transplant team separates acute GvHD from chronic GvHD. I think it’s a bit more than that, but I’m not clear on what the “more” is. I went in for my weekly clinic visit yesterday and it was not too eventful. My blood counts were pretty good. My WBC was 2.7 after almost 2 weeks with no Neupogen, so it was good that it was well above the 1.3 it had gone down to a few weeks ago. However, it is still a bit below normal, so the doctor had me give myself another shot of Neupogen when I got home yesterday. He will see where my WBC is then and may have me take a weekly shot for a while.

WBC – 2.7
Hgb – 10.5
Plt – 220

My platelet count is good and my hemoglobin is a little low but good enough. The doctor thinks the slightly low counts could be a form of GvHD. While my intestinal problems still seem to be better and the skin rash on my torso is definitely less than it was, there is clear evidence of GvHD on my face, which while not bad, is manifested by a darkness and dryness on my forehead, cheeks, and ears, accompanied by a slight itching. I was prescribed a topical ointment for it and still have not started in with the Prednisone. They also said I could stop the IV magnesium and saline, which is nice because it takes about 4 hours each time.

The doctor has also not started decreasing my immune suppressant drug yet, because he thinks that at this point, it might allow some more severe GvHD than he would like to see. With the newer mini-transplants like I got, he thinks the weaning has to be delayed more than with the older fully ablative transplants from which GvHD seems to get more of a head start.

The doctor also said I could try some food not cooked at home, but I should be careful that it is heated well enough to kill any germs or other infections. He said that I could have a pizza, for instance, if it didn’t have vegetables that weren’t well cooked. It’s kind of exciting although I haven’t done it yet. Maybe this weekend.

My wife and I have also started attending a bi-weekly support group for BMT couples. We’ve been to 2 meeting so far and it has been very nice. I’m the most junior BMT patient by quite a bit – the others are more like 2 - 4 years post transplant.

I’m still feeling pretty good, doing some yard work and some work work (from home). I hope it lasts.

Love,
Justin