Well everyone…as 2007 comes to a close, as does my induction round of chemotherapy. I completed my 5 day regimen of chemo this morning. The next steps from here involve a spinal tap, and in a week or two I will have another bone marrow biopsy to determine the status of my leukemia. If at the time of the biopsy they are unable to find any leukemia in my marrow, they will then elect to move on with the bone marrow transplant. From what I understand, they will be looking at either my younger brother, Steve, or my younger sister, Lindsey as the donor. However, nothing personal against Lindsey or anything, but I am slowly learning that not only do I inherit my donor’s immune system and DNA, but I also believe I will inherit the donor’s ability to produce their hormones; hence I am somewhat crossing my fingers that Steve will be my donor match over Lindsey, but that is only to deter the growth of what one may call “manboobs.” Should be an interesting couple of weeks!
Speaking of Lindsey, she was able to visit me today with my mom. Lindsey has been sick in Two Rivers for the past week or so and unable to visit because of that. She was very happy to see me, and I was happy to see her as well. We are all handling this crappy situation as best as we can and continue to trudge through each day as they come.
Dawn and her friend Amy also stopped in today. They dropped off some delicious Cinnabons…damn those things are good. Some more much needed calories for my ever-slimming figure. I weighed in at 186 lbs tonight. That’s down from about 200 lbs on December 24th. Not quite the Atkin’s, but it works.
My mother’s cousin, Glenn, and his daughter Jenna also stopped in today. We visited for a bit and talked about various things. Hard to believe Jenna is already a junior in college at Stout. The years sure have flown by. Seems like just yesterday I was pinned up in this very same place. These walls have their own ways of echoing memories of the past.
My dad also dropped in for most of the day and helped me set up my desktop. My laptop hasn’t quite been doing the trick and is rather outdated. The cd drive isn’t functioning properly and even though I consider myself to be somewhat more knowledged in the world of computers, one thing I will never be able to do is make a computer go faster than the hardware it was built with. So my dad helped me out quite a bit today and hauled my desktop up here. It’s working out very well so far and I think it will fare me quite well.
My last guests of the day were my old college roommates. Damn it was awesome seeing those guys. I had a chance to see them in Whitewater around Thanksgiving. Matt is pictured on the left and Dan is pictured in the middle. That’s me on the right looking happy as all hell! I know I know, I haven’t been too photogenic in most of these pictures, but I try!
We all met up at a bar down there called The Boar. It’s a spectacular little bar and if you are ever in the Whitewater area…I recommend it. Anyways, I got to spend a good hour or two catching up with the guys. Russ, one of the roommates who I had pictured on an earlier blog, also made it up during this same visit. It was quite the nice little reunion with all of us in the room.
After everyone cleared out, my father and I watched Pirates of the Carribean 3. I had already seen it, but he hadn’t. Not a terrible flick…I just think it could have been quite a bit better. Ah well.
To close tonights blog, I would just like to wish each and every one of you a Happy New Years! With 2007 rolling out and 2008 rolling in, I am sure most of us have already been piecing together our New Years Resolutions. I encourage all of you to stick to those and do what you can to make a difference in this upcoming year…with whatever you do. Take a few minutes tonight and just think about any and all of the things in life that mean the most to you. It doesn’t matter what or who they are. Now that you’ve got those things in your head, try to focus on that stuff. That’s the stuff in life that’s worth a damn. The car you drive, the clothes you wear, the money you make…none of that matters. Without happiness, you’ve got nothing.
As a a very good friend once told me, “Carpe diem.”
God bless you all and may you all enjoy a safe and happy new years.
Love,
Eric