MAY 14, 2010: I just received my first infusion of Fludarabine, a chemo that is supposed to destroy my immune system along with a hefty dose of radiation next Tuesday. So, I am committed. I’ve plunged in. According to Dr. Miklos, the stats say I’ve got a fifty-fifty chance that the disease will make a comeback. If I don’t take this chance, I’ve got a hundred percent chance that I’ll relapse.

When I ponder my odds, I’m reminded of a story I heard maybe fifteen years ago about an octogenarian multimillionaire. In his late eighties, he took up with a Playboy bunny who was one-quarter his age. His friends all shook their heads. Rumors abounded that she was cheating on him. Finally one of his close friends got up the courage to talk to him about it, hoping that he could bring the old fellow to his senses.

“Don’t you know,” his friend said to the old man, “she’s going out with younger men — making a fool out of you? Everyone is laughing behind your back.”

The old man nodded and smiled. “Of course,” he said after a short chuckle. “But as a businessman I also know that ten percent of something is a lot better than a hundred percent of nothing.”

That’s how I feel about this ordeal I have just embarked upon. I’ll keep you posted.

MAY 1, 2010:  We got a little cocky, I guess. My transplant was nearly three years in the past and although I was losing the graft, I said to myself: Who needs it, I’m feeling fine. We had made it through a trip to Turkey. We were back to yoga camp. In August we hiked into the high country of the Desolation Wilderness in the Sierra and were none the worse for wear, except for an extremely poor estimate of the amount of water we’d consume. In October, I traveled to D.C. for a meeting. We’d begun to assume that we’d gotten our old life back. Big mistake.

Shortly after I returned from D.C. it was time for my semi-annual blood tests. Oops. There was a teeny tiny problem. Seemed like my platelets (the little guys that stop bleeding) were way low. Indeed, they were half of low normal. It had to be either a mistake or some type of infection. Nothing serious. I was still feeling fine. We decided to retest.

Shortly before Thanksgiving, I got those results. Read the rest of this entry »

Hmmm…it’s been quite a while since I’ve updated this website. Been so long it’s beginning to look like a cobweb site. I have no idea how many readers I have anymore. I’ve been waiting to trumpet good news, glad tidings, the glory of the coming of the Lord. Well, don’t you all worry now brothers and sisters. None of you have been “Left Behind,” (which happens to be the place where they did my previous bone marrow biopsy.) Read the rest of this entry »

Well, at long last, I’ve gotten some news. Perhaps I should wait until it’s fully digested before I spit it out.

Nothing is happening here. What it is ain’t exactly clear. But the chimerism shows only a little progress in the engraftment. Read the rest of this entry »

I have been hearing from some of you who are wondering why I’ve not posted anything on my website recently. Thank you. I’m flattered that you miss me. But that’s the problem when there is really no news, isn’t it? The cliché is that no news is good news. If that’s the case then my little commentaries should not be missed. Read the rest of this entry »