Waiting

Early every morning, I have some blood drawn. If I'm lucky, this blood draw coincides with the 4:00 a.m. vitals check. The main information we're looking at is my blood counts. The chemotherapy knocked out the cells in the bone marrow that create new blood cells. Until I am able to create new cells in sufficient numbers, my counts will keep falling as older blood cells die.

When my platelet count falls below 10, I get a platelet transfusion. When my hemoglobin falls below 8, I get a red blood transfusion. My white blood cell count has been close to zero for weeks, but you generally don't transfuse white blood cells. (I think that's because they have such short life-spans that it's not worthwhile.)

At some point, my marrow will start generating blood cells. The attending physician who was just in my room this morning expects this to happen around the end of this week. If that's the case, I could be heading home as soon as next weekend, or maybe a little after. Then I would continue to recover at home for a week or two before coming back here for the stem cell transplant. At this point, it's just a waiting game -- blood draw in the early morning, report later in the morning, repeat the next day.

Speaking of transplants, sister Mara is coming into town this Tuesday to begin her part in this adventure. She'll undergo some tests on Wednesday. Assuming those tests go well, she will start Neupogen injections to boost the number of stem cells in her blood, so that they can be harvested for me. That harvest is scheduled for February 21 or 22. Mara can expect some or all of the following side effects from taking Neupogen:

• redness, swelling, bruising, itching or a lump in the place where the medication was injected
• bone, joint, or muscle pain
• headache
• nosebleeds

Thanks, Mara!