Update

Good Afternoon All:

I realize that if I had been following my normal pattern I would have posted this update yesterday. You'll have to pardon me. I found the third benefit of being a cancer patient (The first is that it gets your priorities straight, the second is that you can eat whatever you want and everyone thinks its wonderful) and so yesterday afternoon/evening and I was busy indulging. If you know me you know of my love for baseball-yesterday I was in bliss as the baseball season kicked off, I watched all or parts (in some cases, very small parts) of 6 games yesterday! The only thing that would have made it better was if I were at home in front of the big screen.

Anyway, I've let it slip in that first paragraph that I am still at Hopkins. My white blood cells are on the rise--slowly. The doctors seem happy with the blood counts with the lone exception that I haven't produced a stinkin' neutrophil. Since neutrophils are the lynchpin of the immune system they will not release me until they see that those are being produced and are on the rise. The doctors have not expressed any concern on that front, just that it will take some time. My only concern, then, is for my sanity as I pass days here in the hospital and miss the wife and kids.

For those who haven't had the chance to visit, I still look and sound just like me. I haven't lost any weight from when I was admitted and I'm generally in good spirits. The big change is the hair loss. I had my head shaved down to stubble when it started coming out. Now that stubble is quickly evaporating as well. I can live with that, especially since I still have my eyebrows and eyelashes. If the hair on my head was going to fall out I would hope that the facial hair would follow suit so I can claim a silver lining on that front as well--the smoothest shave ever!

As always, thanks for reading.

--Russ.