I will light a match this morning......

This morning, after all the required check-in work, they took me to a section of the Harrisburg Hospital that I haven't been in before called Transitional Care. After a few minutes a very nice phlebotomist named Margarita (I like that name) came in and said "Oh I remember you! I told you when you were upstairs that you have great veins! And you said that I probably say that to all the guys.

That's how I remember you."

Uhhhhhhh. I'm getting a reputation here.

So........I got the neupogen injection and now the bloodwork results are back and my WBC has fallen to .6 this morning. 

In effect - this means that right now I have very little immune system function.

Ugh.

But after the use of some of my strongest persuasion skills Steph, my tx coordinator, said I could go home IF  I get rest, IF I'm super diligent about staying out of crowds, IF I'm diligent about sanitizing my hands, and IF I'll give myself another shot of the neupogen tomorrow.

Sounded like a deal to me, so me and the Purell are staying pretty tight and thankfully I'm headed home for the weekend.

Thanks for caring enough to check here.

Then as it was.....

So I've heard from a couple people who think that maybe the thrill is gone after four months since the anniversary of my transplant came and went on Monday without me publicly making mention of it here.
Rest assured, the second of each month still gives me reason to pause to reflect on what was going on at certain hours of that day and to appreciate all the progress that I've made since.

I didn't forget to post on the 2nd, it was just that I was waiting to see what I was told at clinic today.
I had my usual blood labs drawn at 7:30 am on Monday and by noon the transplant center was on the phone telling me that my white blood cell count (WBC) had really tanked.
The normal range is 4 - 11
Two weeks ago mine was 3.1
Monday it was 1.6
Today it is .8

This has them a bit concerned and so they have completely stopped two of my meds, started me on another antibiotic, and are having me return to Harrisburg again tomorrow for another round of stat blood labs to see if it has fallen any further and also to get an injection of  a drug called neupogen.
Low white blood counts leave the body open for all sorts of infection and my transplant coordinator warned me that if the bloodlabs tomorrow show that my WBC has continued to fall that I will be admitted
on-the-spot for more intensive treatment.

Argh.

I seriously hope I'm not posting from the sixth floor at Pinnacle tomorrow at this time.

Thanks for checking here.

The sun shines.....and people forget...

No matter how it is said..... 

I.... You.... We.... ALL OF US...... 

Have so much to be thankful for.

Take a moment to ponder this on this given holiday and give thanks to the deity of your beliefs.

Changes fill my time.....and that's alright with me....

I had more bloodwork done this morning and about midday one of the transplant coordinators from Pinnacle called and said that I am to reduce my Neoral, or Cyclosporine, levels as soon as they can get the new dosage overnighted to me from the pharmacy. So I will be dropping from those whopping big 100 mg gray bombs to 3 - 25mg caps twice a day. I think this is sorta-kinda good as this was the direction that Dr. Yang had suggested taking things in three weeks, depending on blood results, with the hope that lowering this drug may further help with the tremors. I'm down with almost anything that's moving toward that goal.

Although my hemoglobin and hematocrit levels are still pretty low, most of my other blood levels are in acceptable ranges.

More tuning.

And in the end....

Today was my last installment  of the Cytomegalovirus Immune Globulin IV.

With a little bit of pre-IV Tylenol and Benadryl, the chills were kept to a minimum this time. So although I still take a very pricey drug called Valcyte twice a day to protect against CMV, the IV portion of the program is over.

With the new drug that I started 10 days ago the tremors have gotten a wee bit better at times. And as I was out to dinner with some friends last Saturday night I noticed, quite unbelievingly, that for the first time since the surgery, I was as steady as a stone. Then, much to my chagrin, Sunday I had the tremors back full force.

At clinic yesterday Dr. Yang actually seemed excited to see me and find out how the new drug Neoral is doing controlling the tremors. I told him that I've noticed a small, slight improvement and this was all it took to make him happy. This and the fact that the results of my blood labs on Monday were excellent. He had been concerned that changing this primary anti-rejection drug might cause things to go south and was super happy to see that all my numbers were still good. Now he wants to continue to watch my blood numbers and, if they hold, in three weeks he wants to lower my dose of Neoral to see if it continues to diminish the tremors.

The "Fine Tuning" portion of our program.

That's how we're finishing the first half of this month of November.

Thanks for checking here.

Dang!!!! Flippin' ARGH!!!!

                                                              REJECTED.

                                                       Bob is not a happy boy.

In a rather revolting development the oral surgeon Dr. Seitz took a  "Whoa Nellie!!!" mindset after learning that I'm only 3 months post transplant.

 He took a quick, very cautiously quick look and said: "I'll give you some meds to deal with that for now but we are going to try everything we can to wait for the customary six month time after transplant to do any removal."

After all my work to get myself in a zen-like state and after all the prerequisite, pre-event antibiotics. Dang.

The tx center hadn't been real happy that I needed tooth removal right now stating that everybody's mouth (and BTW-TMI) is just a virtual vat of infection waiting for an opportune moment. This, along with my rather... ahem...well documented history of extensive bleeding after surgery, was the deciding factor in the Doc canceling today's eXtraction.

He says it's a fine line that we're walking here because my transplant - being so recent, and me being so immunosuppressed, that infection could flare in this tooth at anytime but, by the same means, opening up things right now could be an invitation to a bad party and so we are going to try to hold out, wait and see. 

The Doc did give me a scrip for more antibiotics and a few other drugs (yep. more pills.) and told me if things become intolerable that they will get me in on a moment's notice and it will be done.

So I got that goin' for me....which is nice.

That's all the non-news for now.

Clinic and some more Yin with Dr. Yang tomorrow.

Thanks for checking.

Time isn't holding us.....

This coming week is action packed with blood tests, a few large doses of prophylactic antibiotics for certain necessary dental maneuvers, (i.e. - wisdom tooth removal), clinic appointment, more blood labs, and I finish out the week on Friday with the third, and hopefully final, installment of the 3 hour Cytogam IV therapy.

Sans chills.

Doesn't seem fair that only some of us get to have all this fun.

If you care to hear how any of it goes check back later. 

I'll be sure to post something.

Thanks for checking in.