Apologies for the hiatus and many thanks for the many messages of support during this tough time – your kind concern for my well-being is much appreciated. Cheers.
Good news first: I am definitely at the engraftment phase and my counts are slowly and steadily rising (WBC 1.3 Neuts 0.5 Hgb 10.0 Platelets 126)-belated kudos to Sandra. So this is it, Alex’s cells found their way to my bone marrow and are definitely multiplying. It’s incredible. However: the less-than-good-news, my current physical state is subduing most feelings of relief or elation. I really appreciate the good news, but I am so done in by months of treatment that I can hardly function for exhaustion and deflation. Symptoms? Nausea (I can even retch by thinking about a smell), weight loss, exhaustion, insomnia, muscle deterioration, diarrhoea, listlessness(not making any lists-apart from this one), headaches, sneezing, general weakness, nightmares (even the classic ‘Exam Anxiety’ one- you know when suddenly you remember that you have an exam in an hour that needed 2 years of study but you can’t even remember the topic) and everything smelling and tasting bad. Oh well, looking forward to when I can report improved symptoms.
Anyway the docs all say how very well I have done and have ‘sailed through’ the treatment (If that’s the case, Heaven forbid a lesser (dinghy or canoe) course through) So grateful for that as I guess they’ve seen it all. Laying low and trying to tick off the days with as little discomfort as possible- I should be home soon. I can’t believe I can now say those words.
Onward. – Milton.
