Thursday, December 25, 2003
This is John wishing every one a merry xmas and a Happy New year if any one has any Plans for the new years or know of any partys i can attend let me know because im looking for something to do that night. hope every one is doing well and haveing a good xmas take care and be safe out on those wet roads. and dont drive to fast because the cops are out in full force this year just like every year.
JOHN
JOHN
Wednesday, December 24, 2003
Day +70 Only 30 more days to the 100 day mark. This means if the doctors and John continue to control any signs of GVH the chances of it becoming a chronic life long disability is much smaller. A friend Janet sent a article dealing with GVH and younger people and the odds are really in favor of John beating having it become a big problem. There goes another great sample of the virtues of youth again. Anyone my age and older would be having a much harder time, but aside from some fatigue John is continuing to recover at a miraculous rate.
Thank goodness John's platelets improved this week, I don't think I could of handled the anxiety of them going down anymore. They were up from 92 to 109 this week. His hemoglobin is rising thanks to the epogen injections to 10.0. His white cells remain steady. Dr. Wolf thinks it is the prednisone is possibly to blame for the platelet drop. I asked him if it is possible since one of his other chemistry levels was high (LHD, which is a measure of an enzyme by product (I think) of red cells and possibly leukemia cells being broken and killed by the body (I hope that makes sense)) could it be a sign of John's new immune system killing off any leukemia cells John's left over bone marrow is producing. Dr. Wolf said that was a good theory and a real possibility. One of the things I like best about Dr. Wolf, besides treating John like his own son is he never laughs at my theories. Point is, if the platelets were dropping because of the presence of leukemia cells, then donor cells are taking care of them and that makes all of us happy.
John and I got another note from the donor. He was happy to hear he was released early and said that his natural WBC count is always low, that he rarely gets a cold or flu. So I think since the United States is in the mist of one of the earliest and worse flu seasons in the last 10 years this is good news for John.
I am hoping all who have been following the Nitty Gritty, praying for John and his family and as always giving generally superb support please have a great Christmas or Hanukkah. John's next appointment is Tuesday December 30th. If all continues to go well, John will be required to only see Dr. Wolf once a week after the New Year. Jennifer, my sister and I hope to have a new front page on the website and a bunch of new pictures to share with everyone.
Thank goodness John's platelets improved this week, I don't think I could of handled the anxiety of them going down anymore. They were up from 92 to 109 this week. His hemoglobin is rising thanks to the epogen injections to 10.0. His white cells remain steady. Dr. Wolf thinks it is the prednisone is possibly to blame for the platelet drop. I asked him if it is possible since one of his other chemistry levels was high (LHD, which is a measure of an enzyme by product (I think) of red cells and possibly leukemia cells being broken and killed by the body (I hope that makes sense)) could it be a sign of John's new immune system killing off any leukemia cells John's left over bone marrow is producing. Dr. Wolf said that was a good theory and a real possibility. One of the things I like best about Dr. Wolf, besides treating John like his own son is he never laughs at my theories. Point is, if the platelets were dropping because of the presence of leukemia cells, then donor cells are taking care of them and that makes all of us happy.
John and I got another note from the donor. He was happy to hear he was released early and said that his natural WBC count is always low, that he rarely gets a cold or flu. So I think since the United States is in the mist of one of the earliest and worse flu seasons in the last 10 years this is good news for John.
I am hoping all who have been following the Nitty Gritty, praying for John and his family and as always giving generally superb support please have a great Christmas or Hanukkah. John's next appointment is Tuesday December 30th. If all continues to go well, John will be required to only see Dr. Wolf once a week after the New Year. Jennifer, my sister and I hope to have a new front page on the website and a bunch of new pictures to share with everyone.
