Countdown is Done!!

Well here I am on "Day minus 1" after receiving the massive chemo on day minus two.  My doctor says that day zero to day five or six will be the worst of it but by day 14, I should start to feel pretty good again.  That is unless something goes wrong on any day.  If that sounds confusing, I agree but that's how they talk here.

Tomorrow is called day zero because that's when I receive my stem cells.  That's the first day of the actual transplant and some say my second birthday.  They will put eleven million stem cells back where they came from...me.  The good news is by day thirty, I am officially done with transplant number one.

I've received a lot of comments about my banjo exploits.  I'm honestly not so good at the banjo.  I'd like to be but I have to keep up on my primary instrument first, the tuba.  So for the record and for any student musician who may read this, I'm keeping my chops up on the tuba first and foremost.  I may only be able to play tuba from the rooftop but it's critical that I keep it going.  

So what's it like to be completely neutropenic or without white blood cells?  Aside from being tired and a little nauseous, it not as bad as they say it is.  I just went for a two mile walk after letting my caretaker (son) demolish me on an old computer game.  

So at least after tomorrow, I can start counting with positive numbers.  I'm expecting the transplant itself to go well so I expect I'll write my next entry with the help of eleven million more stem cells.