T Minus 1


I have kind of lost track of days…today seemed like a Saturday. Apt @ 7:30. My white count is still good but heading down (4.9)

and my platlets are still very strong (244). I got a bag of IV fluids and some potassium. Karin picked up lunch at Mickey-D’s. They disconnect me from the Mesna pump at 12:50 and we go to the pharmacy to pick up 1 script. After transplant until my white count recovers I will be on antibiotics, antivirals, and antifungals.

After the pharmacy, Karin takes me over to Northside Hostpital (the big house) so that I am familiar with where to go tomorrow. I will go to the transplant unit on the 3rd floor and she will go to registration. I am scheduled at 7:30 am. Tomorrow is the big day. They say that the procedure is rather anticlimactic after all this prep. They will push my stem cells back into me over ~20 minutes. Then it is just waiting to make sure that I don’t have any reaction, can eat, drink, and take my meds. I will likely be discharged by early afternoon. My cells have been stored in DMSO. I will stink of that for several days although they say that I will not be able to smell it. You can tell when someone in the clinic has been recently infused the smell is quite noticeable. Beginning Saturday I will be at the clinic 7 days a week for 6-8 hours a day for fluids and whatever else is necessary for several weeks. Sometime next week I will get all of the fallout from the high dose chemo (the worst is yet to come).

Thanks to Bob and Sheila at the Precinct Deli in Savannah today for the fundraiser in my honor and the ones that they do on Mondays. Thanks to Brittany for helping. If you are in Savannah, support the Precinct Deli (1514 Bull Street, tele 233-1456) as they have been supporting me. Their food is great!

Pray for me and with me. I will continue to fight.

Mark