Week 18 – Sat/Sun 7th Jan. Reflection

This weekend has been one of anticipation.  I have expected my neutrophils to drop to close to zero, and by Sunday morning they were O.4 – not quite there yet!

I had been under the impression that the doctors were looking for signs of sickness.  However I have been under a misconception.  It is common for this to happen, mostly with a sore mouth and throat with ulcers.  The gastro-internal tract usually suffers as this is made up of fast replacing cells that usually suffer first when the cellular reproduction system is interrupted with chemotherapy.

The majority of transplant patients would find that after 3-4 days they cannot eat and swallow food and move over to IV nutrition and on demand Morphine self administration.

However in my case I appear to be OK so far with normal eating and drinking.  It may be a few more days until these symptoms appear or not at all which would be highly unusual.  I have been waiting for the freight train to knock me over and it still may be coming but just hasn’t arrived yet.

Jeff Szer stated that the post chemo illness is no indication of how well the graft has taken.  The best indication is the recovery of the neutrophils.  This will take approximately 10-14 days from ground zero.

So given a weekend of not feeling all that sick I have managed to spend a little time reflecting on past activities and life in general.

I have approximately 100 photos of family and friends plastered around my room and have been cataloguing these and writing a story about each one in a diary.  This gives me the fantastic opportunity to look at the wonderful things we have done as a family and of course with special friends.  It ranges from family Christmas get togethers, to skiing trips, golf with mates and of course special business occasions with Michael and Kate McConachy.

My take home message has been that I certainly have had a fortunate life so far and do not regret one moment at all.  If I could spend my last 55 years again I don’t know if I would do anything differently – probably just try and squeeze a little bit more of the same in!

Perhaps we should all make some time to reflect on our past and think about achievements and our life in general.  It may open the way for changes or alterations in the future or simply reinforce that you have been on your chosen track.