Update

Good afternoon all:

Wanted to write and quickly disseminate some good news that I received yesterday. On day 14 of my protocol, they take a bone marrow sample (yes, that's three holes in my pelvic bone in the span of 17 days) to review the effectiveness of the treatment that I received.

While the results are not official, under the microscope it appeared that there were no cancerous cells found and, get ready for this, perhaps the beginnings of healthy white blood cells being formed! Let me tell you what this means, and what it doesn't mean:

What it means:

1. The chemo did what it was supposed to do, take me out of immediate danger by halting the production of cancerous cells.
2. That there is a chance that my body will be producing healthy white blood cells in the near future.
3. Perhaps there is something to this whole visualization bit, and that perhaps I/we, do have the capacity to heal ourselves or alter the body's processes with a modicum of concentration and effort--I guess I can't rule it out anyway.

What it doesn't mean:

1. I am cured. This treatment is to buy time for the Bone Marrow Transplant. History with this disease indicates that a second remission is not likely to be a lasting one. But as the attending physician told me when he laid out the plans for all this: "if the chemo doesn't work then we're in trouble." Glad I'm beyond that hurdle.
2. I'm going home soon. Even if they were white blood cells being formed, I will need to achieve the necessary levels in order to go home. I need to start somewhere of course, but the pace that I recover the white blood cells is anyone's guess.
3. I am free and clear of all the negative effects of chemo. The Research Nurse that is leading my protocol lingered after rounds today and I asked her about my full head of hair. She said that she was surprised that it hadn't fallen out since she last saw me and indicated that no one, to date, had kept it and that I should expect it to fall out in the coming week. Perhaps a nice reminder that I've achieved one milestone in a process that will require many such achievements and that there is still quite a bit to be endured as well. But I guess one could hope, right?

So, good news: I can say that the immediate threat has been removed and I am now a little more firmly on the path toward a long term cure. Breathe a sigh of relief for me. My red blood cells are dropping and so I'm not carrying that much oxygen these days . . .

As always, thanks for reading.

--Russ.