Day +4 Preparing for growth

Helpful tips from the Jolly boys bomber command are helping me pilot through the depths of immune suppression. Today my neutrophil count hit 0.07 from a normal level of 3 so I have around 2 percent of my immune system left. That aside things are going pretty well, even surprisingly so. We managed to find a way to neutralise the stomach cramps and associated regular trips to the bathroom with a painkiller which also slows down the activity of the gut - that was a big relief as it was all getting very very painful. So I am pretty comfortable at the moment.

Tomorrow, day 5, I start on my growth factor injections in an attempt to kick start the growth of new blood from the stem cells but we do not expect to see an influence on blood counts until about day 10 or so. Between here and there is my most vulnerable time as an example I have nosebleeds all the time as the membranes in my nose are so thin now. The doctor said I was lucky to be in such good shape as many others on the same path as me are constantly ill and morphined up to try to get through it, touch wood, I feel very sorry for them.

The tree outside my window has started to grow bright green leaves which is I think a great symbol of hope, by the time I leave it should be in full leaf. The day is passing pretty quietly with the painkillers making me quite sleepy and DVDs like Frasier filling in if the TV is rubbish in the times I am awake, I have taken to torturing myself with watching food programs where they discuss the merits of different forms of slow roasting lamb so that it is truly melt in the mouth....you get the drift. Then I get my hospital food tray delivered and come back to earth with a bang, in reality I can only make myself eat lightly before I have to lie down and recover.

Lee walked to the hospital via about 12 miles of the pathways which criss cross Edinburgh as part of her training for the Monster hike, I think she was quite pleased with the good speed she made and not tripping over her non existent poles on the way. She ran into our friend Tim out training on his bike for the same event so all the team are taking there training for the fundraising 30 mile bike and 40 mile hike quite seriously. If you want to sponsor them you can do that on http://www.justgiving.com/gerrysblogteam. Once this is over I think we will keep up the walking as a hobby together, its something I used to do a lot of and would like to get back to as part of my post transplant training. Some of the drugs I am starting on now to prevent forms of pneumonia are proscribed for 180 days so that is some measure of how long it will take to get my body back fully fit again.

Andy Warrender appears from his tracker to be on the ice on the way to the North Pole, lets hope that the polar bears stay away and all goes safely with his team, you can follow their position on their website http://www.northpole2007.com/.

So in summary things are going as well as could have been hoped for, still a pretty dangerous few days to get through but every day we "get in the bag" is another day closer to the time when my immune system can grow and catch the problem.

Hope you all had a great Easter

Cheers

Gerry