My Anti-BMT Doc Story Was Published Online

I have belonged to the NHL listserv online support group for a number of years. (See NHL Cyberfamily Website or Yahoo Groups for details on joining. The group is called NHL.)

A few days ago, when I was posting on that list, I referred to the story of my first consultation (or face-off) with a Bone Marrow Transplant doctor six years ago. (I told this story at my 50th birthday party, so you may have heard it.) One of the members of the list also runs another website called LYMPHOMAtion: Patients Against Lymphoma. Karl asked me if I would contribute my story to his site, and I agreed. I wrote up the saga and sent it to him.

What fun! You can now see it published at LYMPHOMAtion under patient-to-patient support, patient stories. It might take you a couple of tries to get to my story, but you'll see interesting things along the way. The title of my story is: "The doctor may be the expert on the procedure, but I am the expert on my body and my life."

I feel so famous. :-)

My Predni-Zoned mind was having way too much energy for sitting home today, so I took it out for a long walk along the beach (Lake Michigan). It was a beautiful fall day here, in the mid 50s. I stopped at the Whole Foods deli and got some food for a picnic in the park. It was great. And I even managed to find my way home without too many detours, although I did have pockets full of pretty rocks and beach glass...and a lot of sand!

An Historic Event

Today, for the first time in YEARS, my white blood count, hemoglobin and platelets were all within normal range.
WBC 4.9
HgB 12.2
platelets 154!!!

Wow.

Of course, with such good counts they immediately gave me chemo. Can't let counts like that stand too long. The treatment went well and I'll be on prednisone for the next 4 days.

I also saw the doctor today, and he said after this round I'll get CAT scans to determine what's happening with the enlarged nodes in my abdomen and pelvis, as well as the extranodal tumors on my back. We know I'm doing well with solving my blood/bone marrow problems, but we don't know how well this chemo mix is working with the more aggressive lymphoma sites.

In the meantime, I'm just going to enjoy my good counts. Party time in the Predni-Zone...