Chemo Cycle 3 - in the books!

With Friends Greg Schmieding and Mark Reineman at Cypress Point's famous 16th, Sept. 2010

Hello Friends, I thought a golf picture was appropriate (though this one is slightly dated) because I am in Florida at the moment and plan to play a little bit over the next couple of days.  I drove to Orlando this morning, arriving around 3 pm, in time for an afternoon nap.  This 3rd round of chemo was a lot like the first two, but there is a noticeable 'hangover' that is lingering a bit longer this time.  My low days were Friday and Saturday, which happily coincided with the NCAA basketball rounds 1 and 2, so there were literally 20+ games on over the weekend.  Lots of chemo recovery material.  Well, with all the anxiousness about my neutrophils leading up to the treatment, I got quite a surprise on Wednesday before my 3rd day, when my "neuts" hit 3900 - that was up from 1400 and even higher then they went after my booster shot on Feb 14.  So apparently my marrow kicked it into high gear on Tuesday!  I got another booster shot on Thursday just to be on the safe side.  My lymphocytes were also in good shape (ie, lower). 

Hopefully I will feel well over the next couple of weeks, and I will head to Houston on April 13th for a mid-course assessment of my progress disease.  As you know, a stem cell transplant procedure is being prepared for as a back-up plan, and the testing for my sisters' compatibility is beginning.  I'll keep you posted on that. 

My "big sis" Laure sent me a frozen Giordano's pizza by Fed Ex from Chicago to help me get through this treatment....I am blessed with 2 wonderful sisters!

Renee and I are approaching our 25th wedding anniversary - the date is March 29th.  We are planning a short getaway to Charleston for next week, so we are looking forward to that.  I was listening to some tunes on the way down here and I started thinking what were my "top 5" songs that are "our songs".....how sappy is that?  Here's what I came up with:  "She" by Elvis Costello, "Tupelo Honey" by Van Morrison, "You're My Best Friend" by Queen, "Your Own Special Way" by Genesis, and "Until the Night" by Billy Joel.  So there you go.  Go buy them on itunes and have a good cry  :-).  Honorable mention is a song that I doubt any of you have heard of, "Angel Eyes" by the Jeff Healy Band....but I found it on Youtube! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kag0TsZzxpw

I hope all is well with you, please let us know how you are doing via email or comments.....Thanks as always for your care, support, and prayers.........Love - Dan