Cautiously Optimistic

After the usual, now-expected little glitches, Jim is officially under way for his SCT. Last Thursday, the nurse in charge of the clinical study administered the first of two vaccinations customized with his own blood cells. These have been kept frozen since April when they were extracted from him, and are now "under his skin." Next time they inject him with the remaining serum will be after the SCT. That big day is now expected to be December 1, subject to change depending on whether they can fish out ("fish out" isn't the actual medical term. "Aphereis" is ) enough stem cells in only one day or as many as five. It's hard to keep one's hopes in check. Of course, we won't know until the end of February whether the effort was successful in creating a full remission. We're assured they extract enough stem cells for TWO SCTs so this could happen again within the year, but only if the first falls short of expectations.

Jim spent a night at the Beth Israel Hilton, getting Cytoxan to build up his stem cells and suppress his immune system. Jim looks amazingly well, although ten of his newly found pounds have slipped away again . (looking under the bed)

His hair and beard will start falling out in a few days, due to the huge hit of Cytoxan they gave him. We had planned a coming-out party for his face last Sunday, which coincidentally was his birthday. No one has seen his whole shaven face since 1969. Unfortunately he was under the weather, and came down just long enough to eat some meat and potatoes, then went right back up to bed. Later in the week, I convinced him to let me trim it all back some, the doing of which made him look 10 years younger. Of course, that would be more impressive if that didn't still make him 56, but we'll take it! Later this week we will get out the shaver and finish the job--- after we take a few photos.

For the coming days, the main event du jour will be administering a shot of Nupogan to enrich his stem cell count in anticipation of the apheresis starting on November 16.

So how is everyone holding up now that the transplant is approaching? Jim seems to be handling things with his usual Spock-like aplomb, neither excited nor anxious. His approach to life is like sailing a boat in a swimming pool. No waves, no gales, just predictable calm. Wish I were more like that. I'm still pretending the whole thing isn't happening. Nice to have one rational person in the family, even if he is usually high on who knows what.

I have been toying with the idea of trying to resurrect Dinner Belles, the catering business I started in the 1980's. Free-lancing as a caterer would give me flexibility and if I could convince some clergy and funeral homes in the area to recommend me, maybe we could keep this roof over our heads. I find catering funerals perversely satisfying. The mourners are always so delighted to find free food! I have done other kinds of occasions, but of late, this is my niche market. The downside is the lack of repeat business!