Some of you have asked for me to handicap when my counts will be back up and I'll be able to go home. Chemo wipes out rapidly dividing cells, like stem cells and cancer cells. It did not effect my existing white blood cells, platelets, red blood cells, etc. My remaining cells of these types are the ones that existed prior to starting the chemo. They are living out their natural life cycle, and will soon die out.
Stem cells usually monitor the levels of these other cells and replace them as they die out. With no stem cells to replace them after the chemo, it's now a race between the decline of my existing cells and the speed of engraftment of the reintroduced stem cells. More than likely the stem cells will lose this race and I will bottom out for few days with virtually no immune system. They're telling me it'll be anywhere from 10 to 21 days before my counts recover to the point that I can go home. My goal is the short end of this range at 10 days. We'll see.
Now on to the important stuff - like the Price is Right. Today's show was pretty uneventful. The first contestant actually claimed to have driven from Washington DC to California just to be on the show. Now that's commitment! The most expensive of the showcase options was only $25,000. Pretty lame prizes.
Daytime TV is pretty scary - Judge Joe Brown, Judge Judy, Ellen, Oprah, Springer. I don't watch any of that crap. The commercials are even worse. Nothing has changed. In fact, I feel like I have warped back in time to when I was home sick from grade school - Sam Bernstein commercials (his kids are now in the ads), Colonial Penn Life Insurance, Devry Institute, and, let's not forget, the Hoveround wheel chair. Did you know that they guarantee Medicare will pay for it or it's free? More on all of this next week.
As you can see, it's pretty dull here and I am beyond stir crazy. It's a blessing and a curse that I am feeling OK - a blessing because I am doing well and not having any severe side effects, a curse because I feel good enough to not be here.
That's all for tonight. Thanks for checking in.
