[Dennis]

Jerry,

The hospital does have a pretty good idea of what to expect — we’ve been working with them since October of last year. Oh, but I DO have a FEW surprises left for them — of the non-medical kind, I assure you.

Had my first lab draws today from the Hickey-man garden hose today. Couldn’t help but smile, strangely. First time in my life that blood came out of me without someone getting hurt. In fact, they had saline going in one head, blood coming out the other head (of the catheter — I only have one head) My older son, who wants to produce a zombie movie, would have been clapping in boyish glee. Me, I found it perversely interesting.

Anyway, we’re day -6 today. The cells should be infused on some time Thursday. They won’t tell me a lot about the donor, but I have found out it is a he, same blood type, and they say he is “off shore” They will not, however, tell me what species he is. If I start to sprout scales or feathers, I will be a bit disappointed. I specified hair.

Such an adventure we’re on, here. Thank you for all the kind thoughts, prayers and best wishes. Oh, and whoever mailed the frog, thanks, but I can’t have any new pets.

Best to all of you, and give your special ones a hug, too.

Dennis

[Dennis]

Jimbob,

“bloody” and “mess” are two words I would like to avoid using in a sentence together for a while. I am painting myself green on holloween and going out as the sinclair blow-up dinosaour toy, however.

D

[Dennis]

Where’s my rating key? -1 for Jimbob.

Believe it or not, I was stressed by the fact that I was Unrated for so long. I’ve always considered myself a PG-13 type of guy. Then, finally, someone rated me and I felt nice. However, my MDS went ape shortly after. Be careful what you wish for.

D
Getting his “rubber duckie” installed tomorror — I think they’re getting serious about this.

[Dennis]

Again — thanks, all.

D

[Dennis]

I will be admitted Sunday, Sep 3, and the transplant to take place Friday Sept 7, I thihk.

Either way, it’s clse

Dennis

[Dennis]

Thanks to all — I really need these positive vibes now. If this turns out to be a duplicate post, doesn’t matter, I still need your prayers and thoughts.

D

[Dennis]

Dacogen is an IV Drug — does that make it an injection?

When my onc had mentioned it, I got the feeling he wanted a port before proceeding. But we’re not going that route.

D

[Dennis]

Got the call from City of Hope Samaritan — Donor has agreed to donate, and timetables are being drawn up. Looks like I’ll be in the hospital by the end of the month.

D

[Dennis]

The prescribing information for Vidaza says something like the patient can continue receiving it as long as he/she benefits from it. I don’t think they expect it to give remission in the usual sense of the word. My oncologist called it “control”, likening it to insulin’s controlling diabetes.

These are all new drugs, and they’re sometimes learning as they go.

D

[Dennis]

Thank you, everyone, for your kind words and encouragement. It sure is needed. We’ve been expecting this for nearly a year now, but it just seems so _real_ all of the sudden now that they’re setting wheels in motion. Every days is almost an emotional roller coster.

I do covet your prayers and kind thoughts.

D

[Dennis]

Susan,

You’re not bothering me. We’re all in this thing together, and we all do what we can to make it easier on each other.

Normal? For me, “normal” evaporated a year ago — now it’s an adventure of discovering what the “new normal” is day by day.

MDS is definately an evil monster. But remember all the old Universal Monster Movies? The monster always loses.

D

[Dennis]

Susan,

Tough question. The “flavor” of MDS I had was particularly ferocious — multiple genetical abnormalities, all three cell lines involved, and fairly advanced before it was caught. Add to that a hard-to-match marrow type. Without the vidaza, I may not be here to answer you;

While the stuff was working, it was normal life 3 weeks out of four — energy and everything. Like the proveribal little girl with the curl, when it was good it was very good, but when it was not . . .

The main benefit of vidaza was it bought me time before the transplant became manditory. It was always expected we would have to transplant, but they wanted as much time as possible to find the best donor possible.

Had I not had access to the vidaza, I would most likely had started out with red cells every three weeks (where I was when dx’d) and progressed to red cells weekly, plateletes every few days. Probably wouldn’t be here now.

D

[Dennis]

Initially, Vidaza was very good for me. I responded quickly. However, just as suddenly, it stopped working, and now we are going to transplant.

The docs figured I could get as much as two years off the Vidaza, but in the end the incredibly complex cytogenetics won out.

D

[Dennis]

’cause I want you to set up a system so we hear from someone about your progression toward and through taking someone else’s marrow …

I have already set up a Caring Bridge Site at
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/dennisgoward

Currently I’m doing the updateing, so I don’t know how current it will be.

D

[Dennis]

Got back ok, no crawling fungus on me — but let me tell you, those airports are HUGE — seems their size is in inverse proportion to one’s hematocrit.

Saw the transplant doc today, he said I can go to sem this week, and he did NOT say no partying while I’m there, so. . . How wild can I get.

He did say it’s time to go to transplant, though, so I think this will be the last trip for a while.

D

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