Health update

I had my long-awaited appointment with Dr. Zelenetz this afternoon. I expected a clean report and I got one – but only sort of…

First, my CAT scan from a few days ago revealed no evidence of lymphoma. It also showed that I had no respiratory problems that might be causing my mild but chronic cough. Dr. Zelenetz suggested that I go back on protonix (an acid reflux medication) for two weeks, since it’s possible acid reflux is causing the cough. So I’m going to do that.

The real problem continues to be my low white blood cell count. Today it was 1.4, and the key sub-component they look at was only .6. Because the sub-component (“Gr” on the CBC; it has a name I can neither spell or pronounce) was below 1.0, he decided to do a bone marrow biopsy today. I also was given a shot of Neulasta, the white blood cell booster.

This is the fourth one I’ve had, and it doesn’t bother me (they stick a needle into your iliac crest, aspirate out some marrow, and then chip off a tiny piece of bone; sounds a lot worse then it feels) but I’ve been told by various Dr’s and nurses that it does freak some people out. Of course, “bone marrow biopsy” doesn’t have a great ring to it.

So it was done and some of the test results will be in on Monday; I will talk to Zelenetz on Tuesday. however other results won’t come in for about three weeks.

There are several possibilities for why my WBC count hasn’t come back up. The one he seemed to feel was most likely is simply that when I had my stem cell transplant it didn’t take, or “graft” very well. If that turns out to be the case, I have 8 or 9 million stem cells frozen away in a Sloan Kettering fridge, and they can simply give me another transplant and see what happens.

This sounds like a big deal, but it’s really not; you can read about my original transplant here:

Tom Faranda’s Folly: Transplant went well

I’m sure it’s not something that would require admission to Sloan and there’s no chemotherapy involved. It’s also possible this isn’t the cause – Dr. Zelenetz gave me some other possibilities which are too boring to even repeat here! I have another appointment with him in four weeks.

So a little disappointing, but not really a big deal. And I didn’t mention – I gained four pounds in the last month! That is bad. Too much eating. But – I feel fine.