Thursday, October 2, 2008

No induction therapy after all

Quick update: turns out we won’t be doing induction therapy after all. The biopsy results from Monday show that my marrow is in much better shape than last time (9% blasts instead of 35%), which means the SCCA can take me for a transplant the way I am. This is good news, since induction therapy is pretty heavy stuff so the less of it the better, and it also means less time in the hospital and thus quicker progress towards the transplant.

The other news is that the SCCA (Seattle Cancer Care Alliance) has tentatively scheduled October 20th as my admittance date for transplant. This is super good news, since we finally have a rough idea of the transplant schedule. So this would put the actual transplant itself at around November 10th.

So the new schedule is:
  • another round of chemo
  • 2 weeks of prep/tests at SCCA (starting Oct 20)
  • 3-4 days of intense chemo/radiation
  • 1-2 days of rest
  • transplant!
  • 4 weeks in-hospital recovery
  • 1-2 months at home recovery
In other news, my platelets are at 15 and my ANC (absolute neutrophil count) is at 0.1. Ouch. An ANC value less than 0.5 means that you have problems fighting your own bacteria. 2.0 and above is normal. Time to stay away from people for a few days, especially now that everyone is getting a cold. Hopefully my platelets will hang in there so that I can go without another transfusion.

Exciting stuff.

4 comments:

Cindy said...

Yay for 9% blasts instead of 35%! Boo for low neutrophil counts. Time to hunker down and stay healthy. Yay for having a better idea when the transplant will happen. Progress is good!!

Anonymous said...

Wow, things are moving quickly. I'm positive that the transplant will go smoothly. It looks like you're going to beat this thing sooner than we thought.

Unknown said...

That means come March you should be ready to help me kill some more brain cells. Sweet.

But hopefully you will be feeling better come December.

You can do it man!! Go Stever Go!!

Unknown said...

Steve:
I told my barber today that he's going to be seeing me less frequently, because I'm going to get started on growning that pony tail you and I have a deal about. You're on the right track to beat this thing. Sooooo the next time ya see me I just may look like a long haired gray old geezer. Oh wait...I'm already a gray haired old gezzer. Keep a smilin and a rockin!!