Yesterday was another good one - my only appointment prior to my evening chemotherapy session was "labs" which I can whenever it's convenient for me. After updating my blog in the early morning, I spent a couple of hours working out the kinks in my iPad email client. I have a couple of great friends at Apple who each had the great and very generous idea to give me an iPad to help me pass the time in treatment, so Renee and I have "his 'n hers" iPads....they are the perfect companion in this situation, because there is a lot of waiting to be seen or treated. So keeping up with blogs and email, reading books online, playing games or doing puzzles, even reviewing my appointment schedule online....all in your hand in a perfect-size package. We are very jazzed and grateful for them. Sorry, let me get to the point.... :-)
Chemo started at about 6:30pm, as I showed up early hoping to squeeze in a little before 7. It was much quicker than Monday, 3 pre-meds for a half hour, fludarabine for 15 minutes, and the "C" drug for about 40 mins. We ate during the treatment and other than feeling a little sleepy from one of the pre-meds, it was uneventful. We were out of there by 8:30. I celebrated with ice cream. The best description for how I felt after the treatment was "jet-lagged", which for me means just a little woozy, nothing really uncomfortable. We'll do it all again tonight, and the last treatment is thursday. Busy morning today as we will visit the stem cell transplant department for a consultation and orientation. This is just to make use of the time here and get us started on donor typing in case that procedure is needed in the future. MD Anderson is on the forefront of a technology called a mini-allogenic stem cell transplant which is much less toxic, dangerous and much more effective than traditional bone-marrow transplants. More on that later.
Thanks to all of you who have signed up to follow the blog and/or emailed Renee and I, it is really GREAT to hear from you....
Renee and I walked about a mile to a local restaurant for lunch yesterday, and cut through the Texas Children's Hospital Complex. It was an effective reminder of how fortunate I have been to be so healthy for 49 years. I have always been a "glass half full" person. This is a monumental opportunity to apply that principle. Walking around these treatments centers, it is much harder to look upon faces that are despondent and hopeless, than it is to look upon bodies that are frail and failing. I think it was a Veggie Tales videotape my kids used. To watch that had a song that said 'a thankful heart is a happy heart'. Wisdom for the day. I hope you have a great one. I plan to :-). Dan
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