Today is a good day for our scoreboard watching. All three critical numbers rose to solidify the fact that the new cells are engrafting and working. The excitement of the team here from the attending docs down to the nursing staff has been cheering me on today. with joy that I may be discharged out of the hospital over the next few days. The goals here are for my cells to continue to grow and I can prove that I can be supported without IV medications – only oral. Here then is today’s scoreboard:

ANC – 550 (up from 180)

Platelets – 194,000 (up from 135,000)

HCT – 28 (up from 26)

My brother is a Superhero and here at Fred Hutch, their expertise is such that they would allow a donor over age 60, which is the age cut off for many programs. The nurses who rotate in for my care often ask where my home is and then follow up with how did I chose Fred Hutch. The answer is a no-brainer.

As I am quarantined to my room, the view from here could be an added factor to my healing. A patient is usually not treated to this beauty:

As the minutes, hours and days roll on. today a Madonna song popped into my head – “hung up.” The chorus is a repeating “time goes by so slowly.” The lyrics don’t apply to my situation, just the chorus. You know I am pretty much a take no prisoners type of guy, so living what feels like minute to minute is a challenge for me – one I will graciously accept.

Larry and Sharon

Today has. been a day for scoreboard watching. There are 3-teams of concern. The 3-teams are: ANC counts – the actual white blood cell count needed to protect me against bacterial infections, the Platelet counts – the cells needed to protect me from bleeding, and lastly my HCT – the red cell count needed to circulate enough oxygen around my system so I am not too short of breath. I reported some scoreboard results yesterday and here is today’s full report:

ANC – today was 180, a marked climb from 30 the previous day and zero two days prior.

Platelets – today’s number was 135,000, well within a protected range and double the 64,000 from yesterday.

Hct – 26 – This one is still dropping a bit and if it sinks one more number to 25, that is when a transfusion would be indicated.

My team was all smiles today as the new white cells and platelets have begun to ‘engraft” and grow. Fingers crossed the red cells will follow soon.

One new small problem is given my runny nose and cough, respiratory viral testing came up positive for Rhinovirus – yes the common cold. In the big scheme of things not so bad although I am now prohibited from leaving my room and walking the halls as a protection to the other dozens of immunocompromised patients here.

Lastly, I appreciate the comments on my new hairdo, or lack of one. What I am finding is how cold my head is now. I was not a hirtuis guy and I guess any hair covering is better than none. As i write this now, I reflect back on my Nana, who told me as my hair was thinning, that grass does not grow on a busy street.

Thanks again for all the support.

Larry and Sharon

A yin and yang type of day today. On the downside I continue to be significantly affected by my local symptoms and a general one of overwhelming fatigue.

Having said that, and on the upside my team is very excited because today the lab counted 30 ANC cells. THey said the new cells are now beginning their work and in a few more days I should have much less of the symptoms I am experiencing. I will tell you though that I am not going to count my chickens before they are hatched.

The second piece of good news, and this depends on how sensitive you are to your own look, is that my hair is definitely falling out. So this afternoon we took the big step of shaving my head. Even though my hair has been pretty short, a fair amount came off during the buzzcut process. Here is my updated look – and yes I kept my mustache thinking if it falls out so beit.

That’s it for now. Take care,

Larry and Sharon

Here I am, same place similar time as I write these end of day posts. No big changes today same GI upset, mucus cough and sinus congestion.

What did change today is very subtle. For the last several days, my blood counts in looking for white blood cells – the signal that the new cells are beginning to take root found none.That meant the lab would report a white cell count of <0.11 and due to that there were too few ANC cells to count.

Today’s report said my total white blood cell count was 0.12 allowing them to count cells. The ANC cell type that we are most interested was reported as Zero. None to count but at least we are in the game. I was told that in tonight’s blood test counts they expect to see some ANC cells. That would be wonderful showing the process is working. And when we reach a count of 500, I will be considered safe for discharge from the hospital. Not knowing how long it will take to go from zero to 500 we are patiently waiting.

Hope you are well.

Larry and Sharon.

I am astounded by how the human body can handle so many insults to its systems and survive. That is where I find myself today. The side effects of the chemo I received continue. Two new ones popped up today. One involves too much information for this post, and that is worsening nausea with some added dry heaves, retching if you will, of some mucous.

The other one is kind of funny and I was told this would happen, loss of hair. Yes whatever hair I had on my head is now shedding its way off. The attending doc told me today that this may be the time to just shave it off. I will give it a couple more days before I go that route. I did not think this would happen because in the past as a result of all the chemo regimens I kept my hair. It tells me that this time around is significant and drums home for me the ill effects of these transplant chemo preps is going to like my hairline, recede, hopefully soon. And one clue that I may be getting to the end of the worst is that my poops have become solid enough that we are no longer worried about diarrhea and the incidence of an intestinal bacterial called C-diff. (I know, once again too much information. But hey, I am keeping these posts as an honest journal, not to be too sugarcoated.)

Sharon and I watched the Tony award show tonight. I am looking forward to the days when we can once again attend theater.

Be well,

Larry and Sharon