Tuesday is Appointm-ohhh, that’s how I began yesterday’s post. Well, it bears repeating. Tuesday is the day upon which they prick my arm (no need to access the port for a simple blood draw) and study the results. Blood cell counts, organ functions, anemic status, important levels, they’re all accumulated so that the nurse practitioner or, in this case, my doctor himself can go over the results with me. Plus, we had last week’s pain-in-the-arm (the iodine injection into the IV burrrrrns like hell every time) C/T scan with contrast to look over. This displays what’s going on inside my neck, chest, and abdomen and determines the effectiveness (if any) of the high-dose chemotherapy I endured last month. I hoped and predicted that the Good Doctor and his super-awesome sidekick, Nurse Buffy (my favorite) would be able to schedule the next round of high-dose chemo and stem cell transplant at this appointment, and I hoped that it would be soon. I want to get this started and get it over with so that we can continue to get closer to a cure and I can go back to work.
I’m feeling great, physically. The morning walks are incredible for my mind, body, and soul. Obviously, I prefer to have Sarah by my side…but when I’m alone, that’s okay as well. I still push myself to go a little bit farther, although 68 minutes in this humidity, even at 7-ish in the morning, is barely-tolerable for most humans (never mind the immunocompromised)! I just mapped out the walking distance of our route, from my house to the golf course clubhouse (our first turnaround point) back to my house and past my house to the second turnaround point, then back to my house. We’ve been doing just over 3.5 miles for the past few days and I think that’s pretty freaking awesome. It definitely helps with my continued quest for endurance and health, not to mention stoking the fire of my appetite (currently quite healthy and bordering on ravenous). My weight yesterday was back up to 170 and Dr. Nishihori told me to “keep eating” so that I’m as robust as possible for this next round. Not a problem!
Okay, so speaking of the next round, here’s your subscriber-only (for now!) health update.