Sunday, February 9th
I woke up from a great night's sleep and can tell I feel much better than yesterday. I had to on board some more blood and platelets due to low counts. Across the boards all numbers are still zeroed out so no natural rebuild has started yet. My daily consult with the Oncologist confirmed that we'd have to push out the bone marrow retest until later in the week or next Monday to allow blood levels to recover. I was starting to suspect this was going to happen since I've seen no improvements in the daily blood numbers. I have to be here to recover anyway, so I'm not too upset by the news.
The sun has come out for the first time in many days here this morning. It was interesting that the weather matched my mood and health over the past week. Mostly cloudy in the first part of last week, then dark and stormy on Thursday and Friday, and finally starting to clear Saturday and now bright sun. The timing was great because of two great reasons today. First, my family came back in and we were able to head outside for a walk and lunch. We sat out by the lake next to the hospital in the warm sun and ate hospital cafeteria food; which is a step up from the hospital room service food. I feel my appetite and and taste buds expanding and with the stomach medicine, most things are tolerable again. It was a great way to spend my Sunday afternoon.
The second reason the I was happy for the weather was that back in Vero Beach, a bunch of friends of mine had organized a benefit for me that would include tennis, a silent auction, live music, and a bake sale. Big shout out to Gary Schafer who already does so much organizing many groups at the club and who stepped up to lead the charge once again! Then what started rolling as a small project started to snowball (ironic in Florida) into more of our friends becoming involved and blowing the event up into one where they were expecting around 300 people! Since growing up in New York State, I've lived in Boston, just outside of Los Angeles, and Connecticut prior to moving to Vero Beach. Nothing like this would have happened anywhere else I have lived as an adult. My family is so humbled and honored to be a part of this town and have such amazing friends. I was able to link up with the event briefly live over Skype and say a personal hello. While the picture was grainy, I would make out many familiar faces as they panned the room. I'm looking forward to getting back to see all of them in person.
The only other interesting health update was when my wife spotted a small circle on my upper left shoulder blade. Thankfully she was there when I removed my shirt to head into the shower. Again, the main enemy right now beyond the Leukemia is infection. They had the infection control Dr., who was already assigned to my case last week when I had a low-grade fever, stop by to examine it. He measured and made record of it, ordered immediate tests for staph and strep and will monitor closely now.
Spent the evening with my mom, she brought me a nice homemade meal and we watched the Olympics.
I woke up from a great night's sleep and can tell I feel much better than yesterday. I had to on board some more blood and platelets due to low counts. Across the boards all numbers are still zeroed out so no natural rebuild has started yet. My daily consult with the Oncologist confirmed that we'd have to push out the bone marrow retest until later in the week or next Monday to allow blood levels to recover. I was starting to suspect this was going to happen since I've seen no improvements in the daily blood numbers. I have to be here to recover anyway, so I'm not too upset by the news.
The sun has come out for the first time in many days here this morning. It was interesting that the weather matched my mood and health over the past week. Mostly cloudy in the first part of last week, then dark and stormy on Thursday and Friday, and finally starting to clear Saturday and now bright sun. The timing was great because of two great reasons today. First, my family came back in and we were able to head outside for a walk and lunch. We sat out by the lake next to the hospital in the warm sun and ate hospital cafeteria food; which is a step up from the hospital room service food. I feel my appetite and and taste buds expanding and with the stomach medicine, most things are tolerable again. It was a great way to spend my Sunday afternoon.
The second reason the I was happy for the weather was that back in Vero Beach, a bunch of friends of mine had organized a benefit for me that would include tennis, a silent auction, live music, and a bake sale. Big shout out to Gary Schafer who already does so much organizing many groups at the club and who stepped up to lead the charge once again! Then what started rolling as a small project started to snowball (ironic in Florida) into more of our friends becoming involved and blowing the event up into one where they were expecting around 300 people! Since growing up in New York State, I've lived in Boston, just outside of Los Angeles, and Connecticut prior to moving to Vero Beach. Nothing like this would have happened anywhere else I have lived as an adult. My family is so humbled and honored to be a part of this town and have such amazing friends. I was able to link up with the event briefly live over Skype and say a personal hello. While the picture was grainy, I would make out many familiar faces as they panned the room. I'm looking forward to getting back to see all of them in person.
The only other interesting health update was when my wife spotted a small circle on my upper left shoulder blade. Thankfully she was there when I removed my shirt to head into the shower. Again, the main enemy right now beyond the Leukemia is infection. They had the infection control Dr., who was already assigned to my case last week when I had a low-grade fever, stop by to examine it. He measured and made record of it, ordered immediate tests for staph and strep and will monitor closely now.
Spent the evening with my mom, she brought me a nice homemade meal and we watched the Olympics.
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