From Forty To Point Something in Thirty Days

Of course I was not worried, I knew everything was going to be alright! I had quite a few doctor visits today. This morning as I woke up I got the news, although not official, it was quickly pronounced as "good news". It was only a tease though. Dr. Robbins had not fully looked at the report, but from what she saw it was "good". I was a little annoyed with the limbo stage and large range "good" can be. But in a few hours Dr. Syanni came in to see us(mom and me). I was sweating profusely, and I think that instead of urine, the fluid is draining through my sweat glands now(Great...Sweaty soaked arm pit stains.)So as she began talking mom was holding her breath and I was dripping sweat. She assured us good news, and this time there was an official report to back her. Less than 1%. That is a thirty-nine point something improvement from a months ago today when I started this last bit of chemo. This is extremely good news, although not complete remission which would be ultimate, it is the next best thing. Dr. Savoie(my oncologist who took my case) called it Remission with Minimal Residual Disease, but whatever, I can now say I have 0.32%(something like that) Leukemia.

Dates were mentioned for transplant, it looks like a month will see me back in hospital, oh yeah and I can be discharged tomorrow!! March Ninth is the proposed date, but along with that it needs to satisfy the donor(who I found out is from North America if that narrows it down any for you). I may or may not be able to contact him afterwards, I guess I have a bit more information: he is a twenty-five year old and matches very good, they just have to do more tests for hepatitis, HIV, and other possible diseases, but so far it looks very promising especially with back-ups.

So with having a month of nothing to do I am being put on some maintenance chemo drugs, I was given Vincristine today, and will have a couple of pills that I will need to take over the month. Unfortunately I will have to have a couple more Lumbar Punctures, one tomorrow, and maybe next week too. It may be back to the headaches again... I mean...No, I won't be having headaches this time. Next week will be busy. I have to see the Opthamologist, and get a whole bunch of other tests done to confirm my readiness for transplant, and compatibility with my donor, which is fairly certain. Before Transplant I will see the bone doctor, the heart doctor, the lung doctor, the eye doctor, the dentist, the radiologist, the pharmacist, the social worker, and the psychiatrist. Not all at once of course.

Like I said, it will be busy month, many preparations, and I will have to try very hard to increase my strength significantly otherwise the next phase will be slightly difficult, "slightly may be an understatement. I won't turn into a body builder in the next month but maybe tone up a bit, lots of protein, and carbs to get me a little more weight on before the long haul.

I forgot to say I lost another 3.7 kg from yesterday afternoon to 8:00 this morning... Incredible...I guess, I feel thinner, but I think my stomach really is a bit tubby now(too much ice cream.) Indulgence, if you like(or can stand) some kind of food in the hospital, it is a good idea to eat it!
Justin:)