Now....the waiting!

Encouraging signs continue! Nurses say I have responded exceptionally to the drug Vidaza. Blood counts are almost back to the low end of "normal" and I feel really good. Instead of weekly blood tests they have stretched to monthly and I now am on a cycle of receiving the drug for 7 days and then off for 5 weeks, I still need to have the dressing on the PICC changed weekly.

They have commenced a series of tests that include X-Rays, EKG, CT Scans, Kidney, Liver, and teeth. I even got to visit a shrink to make sure my elevator was going all the way to the top.....hummm, wonder what she found! One thing I can say for sure, the dentist says all my teeth have to go! Swell, toothless in Seattle! Concern is that the gum diesease that I have experienced for many years will give opportunity for infection when they kill my existing blood cells. The VA will remove my teeth but I will be responsible to get dentures, maybe I'll get some chrome ones. The teeth I have are all worn out! They have served me well, the front ones are worn so flat I can't bte off a piece of pepperoni on a pizza, now that's bad......oops, forgot, not supposed to be eating pizza, well I'm sure that a couple times a week won't hurt! Gonna be like loosing some old friends.......

I have been able to do much of the work I used to do, lawn mowing, building stuff, tractor/bulldozer work, getting th garden ready, etc. Seems like each drug cycle effects me a little less and I get stronger after each one. I wonder how I would know if maybe the drug or God has answered prayers of many, many people and perhaps I would not need a transplant, nurss say thaey had never had anyone respond as well as I have, so that is a question that are researching.

My Oh My Oh My!

It is official! My little sister Kathy is a perfect match to be a donor for a bone marrow transplant for me! Think about it, a 25% chance that one of my 3 siblings would be  a match and she was. When I told her she was happy and concerned at the same time, which is completely understandable. I live in Oregon, she in New York State, the transplant will be done in Seattle. She is the director of a special needs school that begins summer break about the time that they want to do the transplant, so she will button up all her responsibilities at school and hop on a plane to meet us in Seattle and have life's blood sucked out of her, not necessarily how she planned to spend her vacation! The turmoil that it will bring to her and her family's life will be immense.....the Greatest Teacher once said "greater love has no man than to lay down his life for another..... I think she must be understanding those words in a way like never before. Thank You Kathy!!! Somehow, "Thank You" sounds so empty and how can one ever "pay back" such a sacrifice? The gift of life is unpaybackable... is that a word? Well I'm sure she will think of something.

Toward the end of June we are scheduled for a bone marrow transplant in Seattle. A wonderful 3 month stay in the "Rainy City" full of sight seeing, ball games, fishing, hiking, resturants and the like..... NOT! I can think of lots of things I would rather be doing, but if I don't do this thing those "lots of things" will never get done. It is tough for a person who has always been very active and enjoys life to become sedentary and dependant, this getting old thing is not how I planned it. Supposed to be fishing, barbeques, training dogs, finishing up the landscape around our ponds, doing outdoor photography, gardening, cutting firewood and enjoying my kids/grandkids, not necessarily in that order. Instead will be exploring the details of hospital beds, needles, IV's, special diets, restrictive lifestyle, city life surrounded by complete strangers....whom I am sure will be good friends by the time this all over.

The adventure continues, my wife says it is a journey, but I disagree, a journey begins at a certain point, travels a given route and ends at a certain point..... an adventure begins at certain point, but you don't know where it ends and what will happen along the way.