Quick sit rep.

Had a checkup this Monday.

First thing first, my lump is now an ex-lump, almost completely gone (actually it has shrunk further since Monday even), so I’m responding to the treatment extremely well. Yay! My Hb (red blood cells) is a bit low (not a concern, just a bit of anaemia), and my Tr (white blood cells) is quite low (somewhat of a concern, as I’m susceptible to anything — so I’m not going to public indoor spaces, family is also asked to be conservative, etc.) Stem cell transplant after chemo is not optional / not contingent on how well the chemo goes, it will be necessary, I learned… otherwise there is an unacceptably high risk of relapse with this kind of lymphoma. So that’s that.

I admitted defeat on the sleep front (thanks, Obama steroids!) and started taking sleeping pills to get some good night sleep — it works, although Garmin keeps thinking my sleep is “non-restorative”, probably because my heart rate is up. (Sleeping HR up from ~50 to ~60, and during the day it’s up to around 90, triggering those Garmin “you seem streesed, how about a breathing excercise” warnings. (I am not particularly stressed.))

Other than that, I’m walking ~4-5k per day whenever I can (would sit on the bike too by now, except the weather… and the Hb/Tr situation), my food intake (aka.: eating) has stabilised as well as my weight. My arms have not yet (not fully), so I bought one of these nerdy hand strenghtener thingies that look like an old train conductor’s ticket validator gadget, in the hope that I can excercise my lower arm and will have chad veins that make the IV go in easier in the next round. Lucky I already have a girlfriend!

Now we wait for the callup for the next round — starting either on Friday or next Monday.