Good Morning Gang:

First things, first. It’s 0625 and I am having a great cup of coffee in my private room in the Bone Marrow Transplant Unit. I’m living large this week. My room number is 6C23 and the phone is 302-733-6123. Don’t be alarmed; I am in the Bone Marrow unit because its walls are soundproof (actually there is renovation going on and this was the only room at the inn).

Started chemo last night and as you know, it goes 24/7. So I was up all night, but luckily I had some great nurses working on me, so what could’ve been a miserable night was okay.

A little freaked out about my blood platelets – they continue to drop. Who knows why? I am told it’s pretty common for chemo patients to have fluctuations. As many of you may know I can agonize over a tidbit – sometimes to my own detriment.  In fact I’m doing it now. What does a drop indicate? Is there a hidden problem? Is there some kind of bone marrow problem now?

Even so, I am still within the safe zone for riding the stationary bike they have, So when I finish this I’m going to ht that for about 20 to 30 minutes just to burn some calories and get all the blood and lymph moving. I think I mentioned that we actually have two circulatory systems in out body – I’m not a doctor, but I pretend I know something. There is the blood system that transports oxygen and impurities to the organs so they can do their jobs. The other is the lymphatic system that uses a chemical called lymph (hence the name lymphatic system) to carry white blood cells around and dispose of impurities – that’s all I know about what it does. Anyway lymph pretty much only moves when you do – either through exercise or gravity when you are doing day-to-day stuff. So it’s GOYA for me. What’s GOYA you may ask? It’s not only a popular Spanish Food brand -- it’s also an acronym -- Get Off Your Ass.

Anyway, back to platelets. I betcha I’ll get a transfusion sometime this week and jump-start the platelet rebuilding. That’s okay with me. Need to relax and have faith and trust the process.

Anyway in a vain attempt to establish some control of a situation that’s out of my hands I’ve started a spreadsheet to track my blood numbers to see if there is a pattern to it all. If there is a pattern to how my body is reacting, maybe I can anticipate the peaks and valleys and not get freaked out. If there is no pattern, then I just need to chillax about it all.

This is a picture of me last night after my chemo premedication of Demerol, Benadryl and Tylenol. As you can see, I’m a bit buzzed from the cocktail.

I guess that’s it for now.

Love to all,

Bill