Day 101

Day 101
One Hundred days have come and gone. Just over three months ago I was laying in a hospital bed with chemicals running through my veins, curing, or poisoning me as well the remaining Leukemia inside. The last hundred days have definitely not been all fun and games, but they haven't been the worst either. Immediately after transplant was the hardest, I was left feeling very weak, and having a body that I did not really recognize. My ability to taste had been reduced significantly, my body was not used to food and I had a little trouble in the digestion area. Also the lack of communication, I kind of cut of ties to the outside world for a while, as I didn't feel well enough to express myself to others. It has been a long few months, and it seems like I could have accomplished more in the (to me) pathetic existence I have endured here, not doing much. More importantly though, during my "uselessness" one thing for sure has come forth, I have overcome one obstacle presented to me in November of 2004, Leukemia, even now it seems very peculiar and strange to say that I have Leukemia, or did rather. It's like an out of body experience, although you experience all the horrible effects, the vomiting, headaches, diarrhea, mouth sores, and all the rest of the torture that comes along, it still seems unreal.

Now for immune building, that is really the only thing holding me back now. Having an immune system is great but only if it works properly. In my case I am still taking drugs that inhibit the growth or maturity of my new disease fighting system. The prednisone steroid that I am taking is slowly being tapered, and I cannot just stop taking it because of some adverse effects that can become of that. For instance, I could become psychotic from the withdrawal, and start flinging chairs and be very irritable for the slightest reason (I have discussed rage issues with another transplant patient.) The main reason I am on this drug is to prevent Graft vs. Host disease, where the new immune system could start attacking my body:(Right now I think I am experiencing a little bit of this in my mouth, it is feeling a bit peely and has a different texture- I have a steroid mouth rinse for this, and no it won't give me built tongue muscles.) Another reason for the tapering is that if I were to experience harsher GVH symptoms it is likely I would have to go back to a higher dose again and begin the tapering process all over again. Right now I am at 30 mg per day, if I keep moving along eliminating 5 mg per week, with a final dose of 2.5 mg, it is likely I will be off the "roids" in about seven weeks. Maybe this will mark the increase of an fighter and better protection inside me.

The cold, or whatever this thing is, is still with me. The chest feels fine, I just have to cough every once in a while to loosen up the crap, it isn't really a colour anymore, maybe a tinge of yellow, but not as it was before. My sinuses still get a little plugged up at times, but nothing a few forceful blows can't clear up. The only other thing is that my head has been bothering me. You know the feeling when you feel like you are on the edge of a headache, but it doesn't bother you enough to pop a Tylenol. We'll see where it goes.

I went for a jog tonight, the mosquitoes were crazy. After all the rain it seems that it was enough to spark some serious hatching in the mosquito egg department...Dude. I didn't get eaten alive, I was able to outrun them for the most part. The jogging felt good, I haven't done any(as much as tonight) for a long time, and you can tell...You can feel the burn in your legs, the firming of your butt, the bouncing of the fat in your upper torso... What a rush. I have been thinking fairly serious lately about joining the Team in Training program if I am able. It is a training program that gets you trained for a marathon of your choice, mine being Honolulu in December, and you have to fundraise so much, 75% of your money raised going towards research for Leukemia and other blood disorders, the other 25% going towards your training and getting to the marathon. This would be a tremendous challenge, but also put me back inline, maybe even better shape that what I was before all this happened. I feel this would be such a good cause and a very positive thing if I am able to do it, which I really hope I am.

Justin:)