Today's Update: I say we both won.

For those playing the platelet-growing pool,

Last stats:
Last Friday, I had 29k.
Yesterday, feeling 56k, I guessed 36k, and
Mathwhiz-cheater mom guessed 31k.
Reality: Today, we have baby platelets @ 46k!

Ok, so my lips were pale when I woke up, so I knew I'd need to be topped off with red blood ~ and I got two units of divinely donated blood. Thank you, whoever you are, that person who donated blood to a stranger. Heavy on the strange. But good news is: all my other cell levels are coming up to normal, meaning The Trinity (what I call the white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets) are beginning to work together again. And that's a big hallelujah for anyone.

Sorry for this late VERY GOOD update, but with donated blood, two units take a couple of hours to transfuse plus the benadryl used to keep any allergic reaction from happening knocks me out. So I came home and fell asleep. In heaven. Man. I know. I'm surprised yet not surprised at the same time. I'm tellin' ya ~ proper meds boosted with proper nutrition and rest are key to a quick recovery, plus the Big Daddy G upstairs is really the one responsible for the whole design of life and renewal in the first place.

All I can think of is how lucky I am to have this treatment begin to work, amazed that someone's job was to figure out how to make someone's elses broken bone marrow reboot and begin producing platelets with a horse serum named ATGam and the proper mix of cyclosporine and steroids to keep the cells from rejecting it all.

And, I have never lost sight of how lucky I am to have access to the University Medical Center Cancer Clinic (Hematology) and the UMC Bone Marrow Unit here in Jackson with the exceptional care of the doctors (Dr. Joe C. Files) and the entire staff at the clinic and the bone marrow unit. You have no idea how they not only run those facilities like clockwork, but they are all such wonderful people with a laughter and character from deep within, one which I have never experienced anywhere else.

Just like the people reading this, too. If you are reading this, then you are one of a kind. Just the kind I am thankful for, everyday.

On December 8, 2006, I packed my bag for a one night stay here in Jackson, kissed the dog and cat goodbye, but never got to go back to Memphis after the doctor read my counts and began this unexpected trip of mine. But today, I don't have another doctor's appointment until 2/27 ~ not two days from now, as usual, but two weeks from now. So now, it's time for me to travel in the next few days, with baby platelets growing, driving 210 miles north again to see what I had to leave undone the last 67 days in Memphis.

I have some vacuuming to do, I can feel it! And the story of this trip has just begun.


short-term goal: 100k
long-term goal: 315k