Tomorrow it will be a week since I got home. I’ll have an appointment with my local oncologist for a blood test. I’ll have a weekly blood draw until I go back to Duke in about 3-4 weeks. I don’t even remember when my appointment is, so I’m counting on them sending a reminder!
I [...]
Filed under: Cancer, Life, Myeloma, Southern Pines, Stem Cell Transplant | 8 Comments »
I made it home yesterday. I’m SO glad to be here. I went straight to bed when I got home, and slept for what felt like forever. I got up at 5:30 this morning, walked the dog and then went back to bed until 10:30. It felt great to sleep in. It’s nice not to [...]
Filed under: Cancer, Duke, Durham, General, Life, Myeloma, Southern Pines, Stem Cell Transplant, Treatment | 7 Comments »
I’ve just been told I’m going home tomorrow! I feel as well now as I did when I came in here, so I can only imagine that things will get better and better as time goes by. Years of drugs and chemo take their toll. This procedure will give me the best possible [...]
Filed under: Cancer, Duke, Durham, Myeloma, Stem Cell Transplant, Treatment | 7 Comments »
My WBC today was 7.0! My HGB dipped a little to 9.8, and the platelets are at 23. This chemo experience was a lot like Cytoxan, in terms of what it did to my counts, with the exception of the WBC, which got to 400 at its lowest.
Overall, the experience wasn’t as [...]
Filed under: Cancer, Duke, Durham, Myeloma, Stem Cell Transplant, Treatment | 2 Comments »
The only thing I have to report today is that my WBC is 4.7! Can you believe it? As soon as I get the rest of the results, I’ll post them. It was mentioned that I might get to go home earlier than predicted.
I forgot to mention that I had my head [...]
Filed under: Cancer, Duke, Durham, General, Life, Myeloma, News, Stem Cell Transplant, Treatment | 3 Comments »
My WBC was 1.3 today, which is quite an improvement over yesterday (0.3). My nurse tells me it wouldn’t be a stretch for it be double that tomorrow. I could be going home as early as Friday. I hope I can.
I’m 46 years old, but it bothers me that my parents don’t call every day [...]
Filed under: Cancer, Duke, Durham, Life, Myeloma, Stem Cell Transplant, Treatment | 4 Comments »
It’s been 11 days since the first day my stem cells were infused. Time seems to be passing by very slowly, which can be torture at times.
I’ve been having some issues at home, which make me wish I was out of here and back home. My dog is going to be boarded [...]
Filed under: Cancer, Duke, Durham, General, Life, Myeloma, Stem Cell Transplant, Treatment | 2 Comments »
I had some good news today. My white count doubled! It went from 0.1 to 0.2. Progress is being made.
I need platelets and potassium today, so I’m going to get hooked up and I’ll write more later.
Joyce is in treatment area B, too, but she’s in a room by herself. I think that’s meant to [...]
Filed under: Cancer, Duke, Durham, General, Life, Myeloma, Stem Cell Transplant, Treatment | 2 Comments »
Things are progressing. I haven’t received my labs yet, but I feel pretty well. I suppose that’s a good sign. I’m hoping my white count is on its way back up. We’ve been working on that during Reiki. The WBC was still 0.1. Oh well, what can I do but [...]
Filed under: Cancer, Duke, Durham, Life, Myeloma, Stem Cell Transplant, Treatment, podcast | 3 Comments »
I’m here in treatment room B, where my friend Joyce is just starting the SCT process. She recorded a note for you all.
sctday07a.mp3
Filed under: Cancer, Duke, Durham, General, Life, Myeloma, Stem Cell Transplant, Treatment | 1 Comment »
SCT Day +7
Things aren’t as terrible as I’ve been imagining all these years. That’s not to say that I think it would have been better for me to have the SCT up front. There’s no way I can know how my awful anxiety would have affected the transplant processs.
I have a bit of mucositis and [...]
Filed under: Cancer, Duke, Durham, Myeloma, Stem Cell Transplant, Treatment, podcast | 1 Comment »
This was day+6. My counts were as follows:
HGB: 11.4
WBC: 1.3
PLT: 50
I also tried my my hand at a podcast, just to see how that goes. Most days I don’t really feel like typing. I make too many typos, and I get bored with it too easily. I can’t remember [...]
Filed under: Cancer, Duke, Durham, General, Life, Myeloma, Stem Cell Transplant, Treatment | 2 Comments »
It’s day +5. My WBC is now 1.7. Not much happened today. I got some fluids. My blood pressure was pretty low.
Amy asked how the re-infusion went. I hated that part. She mentioned that was a prime opportunity for nausea to creep in. I had some Zofran, Ativan and some oxycodone in my IV. If [...]
Filed under: Cancer, Duke, Durham, Life, Myeloma, Stem Cell Transplant, Treatment | 4 Comments »
This is day +4. It’s also Kathy’s birthday, so we’re wearing hats. I think I might be the only one wearing a hat.
Here are my lab values for today:
Hgb: 10.7 g/dL (ref range: 12.0 - 15.5)
Plt: 104 (ref range: 150-450)
WBC: 2.8 (ref range: 3.2 - 9.8)
There’s more, but I’ll add [...]
Filed under: Cancer, Duke, Durham, Life, Stem Cell Transplant, Treatment | 3 Comments »
This will be day +3. Yesterday wasn’t too terrible. I had a few periods of nausea. A local Reiki practictioner came to the apartment to help me through the second one. It really did help. I ended up asleep, which was good. If you’ve had a stem cell rescue [...]
Filed under: Cancer, Duke, Durham, Food, General, Life, Stem Cell Transplant, Treatment | 3 Comments »
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