Greetings to my big Team Tyler Fam!

I hope this message finds you all happy, healthy, and enjoying the final week of 2011.  I had a fantastic Christmas holiday spent with family and loved-ones.  Santa was waaay too good to me this year.  For a brief period of time on Christmas afternoon, I got to experience the sensation of time-travel, as I was transformed into a ten-year old boy while unwrapping a new bike and stationary trainer.  I’ll be able to take both with me to the hospital for future inpatient treatments, which will be great.

I’m committed to staying as active as possible through this process, but the last few days have been challenging. I’ve been doing my best to listen to my body, and it has been telling me to rest.  I am feeling physically drained.  I got up this afternoon and got my legs moving at the track at UCSD for a bit, and I’m actually feeling pretty good at the moment as I drink a blueberry smoothie packed with proteins, oils, fresh greens, and vitamin-c.  It’s important that I eat as much as possible, as my body is metabolizing calories at a higher rate than normal.  My appetite comes and goes, so the fact that food is tasting good right now is a great sign.

I’m a “Monday-Thursday”, which means tomorrow is my Thursday blood draw.  Twice a week I will be visiting the Moore’s Cancer center for labs and occasional out-patient chemo treatments.  The most important number to watch is my absolute neutrophil count (ANC), which gives us a way to measure the strength of my immune system as it responds to the chemotherapy.  Ideally, after a few days, my count rebounds, and my immune system bounces back to normal–at which time we blast the cancer again with another round of inpatient chemo.

If all goes according to plan, I will be receiving inpatient treatment at Thornton Hospital every 21 days.  And, all is going well so far.  In fact, I just got a voicemail from the hospital confirming my admission on January 2nd for round 1B of my Hyper CVAD regimen.

My hair started falling out in the shower today.  It’s strange.  I knew it was going to happen, but it’s just another one of those “this is real” confirmations.  Tash has been asking to cut my hair for months now, but I never trusted her enough to let her try.  I guess she’s going to have her chance!

Lots of love to you all!
–T