Good Check-Up

I went to see Dr. McGaughey today at the VOA office and everything is going well. My white blood cell count was very high thanks to the shot of Neulasta that is encouraging WBC production. The effects of the shot should last another two weeks. My platelets fell from around 90,000 down to 60,000, but up and down counts aren't unusual and platelet production is usually the last thing that the bone marrow starts making reliably.

Proving that medicine is more of an art than an exact science, it was interesting to hear Dr.McGaughey's very different protocol for post-transplant care. Sloan-Kettering is ultra-conservative and VOA is much more liberal in how they treat patients. While I don't intend to ignore Dr. Moskowitz' instructions from S-K, it was good to hear that I may not be as fragile as they make it seem. If I were a VOA patient, I would have no restrictions and no medications at this point other than using good judgement as I regain my strength. Dr. McGaughey's opinion is that my immune system is probably close to 90% of pre-transplant right now. The biggest issue that most patients deal with is fatigue over at least the next 3 months.

Being home has been great. I am up and about and doing things, although I do get tired quickly. My stomach still bothers me but has been better today. It was nice to drive myself to the doctor and I actually stopped at the store on the way home. I am walking around the block most days and have enjoyed sitting outside in this great weather. The kids are wonderful....in fact I need to get going to go watch Chris' last regular season baseball game.

P.S. - I'm back from the game and Chris' team won. They will probably go in to the tournament tied for first! Here are some baseball pics of the kids: