A hodge-podge of updates

Good Morning all:



Before I get into my boring updates I want to alert my readership to another fundraising activity for the Leukemia and Lyphoma Society (my newfound favorite charity). A friend of mine has entered himself into a half-marathon (as long as he doesn't expect me to pick up the slack on the other half!). Please feel free to visit Brian's donation site: http://pages.teamintraining.org/nca/shamrock09/breeve To borrow from his thinkning, if I can weather the chemo and he can get up to run a few miles perhaps the readers of my blogs can band together to make contributions that will make a difference in finding a cure. Thank you for your efforts, Brian and I'm touched that my situation serves in part as rationale for undertaking this effort.

Moving into the more mundane updates to treatment . . .Let me start by announcing that I'll be having spinal tap number 9 of 12 today--3/4 of the way through those!


Second, part of the littany of questions I get at each shift change and when a doctor visits focuses on the numbness in my fingertips. The question is actually phrased: "Any numbness or tingling in your fingertips or toes?" I respond in the affirmative relative to my fingers. I am often asked to distinguish between whether my fingertips are numb or tingling but had only been able to decipher that I didn't have the same sensitivity that I once did and that buttoning shirts or handling little pills were becoming difficult activities.


Well, during this round of chemo the nurses started pricking my finger to monitor for rises in blood glucose as a reaction to some of the steroids I'm taking. I can now report that my fingertips are not numb as I do feel those finger pricks. I understand that my tingliness will slowly dissipate once the chemotherapy is done--very welcome news.


Finally, I've received word that my bone marrow biopsy has been analyzed but perhaps has not yet been reviewed. I'm still holding out hope that I'll have a chance to review those tomorrow and to digest their meaning with Dr. Connolly and Marla in attendance.

The progress continues to be good . . . ever onward.