Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

Don't know why that struck me, but Sunday seemed to sum it up. It has been a tough weekend, this round of R-ICE was quite a bit harder on my system than the previous two. Probably because my system never fully recovered from either of the previous. They do that on purpose, so that each round takes my blood counts a little lower. It sucks spending all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday morning with such horrible nausea, even plain old water doesn't taste good. Ugh. At least I'm feeling better this afternoon, still a bit of a stomach ache, but not like it was.

Big week this week as things begin in earnest for the stem cell transplant. I have blood tests and doctors appointments tomorrow, Wednesday and Friday. They are making sure my blood cell counts are low without being so low that my major organs become oxygen deprived. They are also doing a bunch of tests to make sure my system is producing new stem cells, and beginning Friday, they will be giving me massive doses of Neupogen to jack my stem cell production as high as they can get it.

The more stem cells they can get my body to produce now, the less room there is for them inside my bone marrow, and so they detach and flow freely in my blood stream. With a high enough concentration of them in my blood stream, the doctors can use a centrifuge to harvest the cells for use in my transplant, without having to invade my bone marrow to get at them. Basically, this is why what used to be called a Bone Marrow Transplant, is now called a Stem Cell Transplant, because they no longer have to invade the marrow.

Also, Tuesday, we're going to visit the blood bank at Northwestern Hospital and tour the facility where I will be staying while in isolation. I'm not looking forward to going into the hospital, but have resigned myself to the fact that for the long term, this is simply the best solution at this time. I struggle to imagine being in a hospital room with limited visitors for a month, but I'll get through it ok. I've been working on putting some things together to give me stuff to do on my computer and hooking up a webcam so I can see my little pumpkin, Hope.

I found out I will be going into the transplant unit on Tuesday, August 26th. I spoke to my doctor Friday and I will be able to attend some of the Leukemia Cup Regatta the weekend before that, I'm so very excited about that. We work so hard each year to fundraise and put on a great party, it was going to be tough to miss this year's event. Now, at least I get to go for part of Friday night. I have been named the Honorary Sailor for the event, and have been asked to speak briefly to the audience, although I'm not sure what remarks I'm going to make yet.

For more about the Leukemia Cup Regatta, click the picture to the right or log on to www.sailtravis.com or http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org/regatta/all_page?item_id=188790. Thank you for your support, its through the efforts of research organizations like the LLS, that I have any hope of beating this cancer once and for all. If you are interested in attending any of the Leukemia Cup Event, simply log on to www.columbiayachtclub.com and click on the Leukemia Cup link for more information or to contact the club and make reservations.