Three YIPPEES and a Dang!

Today is a day to celebrate.

I went to the clinic and I saw Dr Aljitawi. I had my little food journal all prepared and the calories for the last 11 days all tallied up. So he ordered away the TPN. YIPPEE! TPN is the nutrition bag that I carry around in a 10# or more backpack most of the time. From about 7pm til noon the next day. It carried me when I couldn't eat, or couldn't keep anything down. Dr Al thinks my appetite will increase now. Which will be nice. TPN was also hard on my liver so we're glad to get that stopped.

So that's one yippee.

Then he reduced the prednisone by 25% which is a lot. Hopefully I will notice this difference in the ability to build strength and stamina. He also asked about constriction in my body and I have quite a lot of constriction in my hands, which has got worse and now a bit better. So I should not vomit either.

That's two yippees.

And the final yippee was unexpected--the chimerism results show my blood is 98.6% Walt!! We expect this to continue up to 100%. Voila! another successful remission.

Three yippees.

Then one dang!
I got platelets today; blood and platelets Tuesday. I'm still on the Tues/Fri schedule and see a doctor every 2 weeks, a nurse practitioner the week in between. Tuesday the counts had dropped enough to make me neutropenic again. Dang! So that cancelled a few plans including a Rosary for a scout friend's wife. It wasn't high enough to eat out yet today so we had a fine celebration dinner right here at the house. (with just a little bit of wine. ;)

I've had a steady stream of company and companions which has been pleasant. Mom and Dad have been filling in the blanks here and there. Meanwhile I am getting birthday presents ready for Harrison who will turn 2 on the 24th. I've decided not to try going up there for the party or Thanksgiving since I'm just not sure what life will be like til I've tried this method for a few days. I still have to get Caspofungin via IV every day. It comes in a baby bottle like container that we just attach to my arm. There is a balloon inside the bottle filled with the Caspo. And the balloon, being rubberish, creates enough pressure to push the Caspo out of the bottle and into my arm. Very clever these Chinese.

Janice is coming up to stay a week next week. Mari is coming the week after that. Mom & Dad and I are having Thanksgiving together. Perhaps with another friend. I will cook a turkey breast and some favorite recipes and perhaps spring a fine new dessert on them. I've watched a lot of FoodTV since I got sick this time.

And that's the news! Sort of Dang, yippee, yippee, yippee. Not quite Chitty Chitty Bang Bang but we're getting there.
~Cathi