Spin's Page

Welcome to my page. This page is designed to provide the latest info on my condition, my attitude and my prognosis. No sports scores will be listed, sorry.

Journal

Sunday, October 24, 2004 8:20 PM CDT

Day 582 (2 years, 1 month, 22 days)
Wow, I still can’t believe there is such a huge demand for updates on this Caringbridge site! Just a day or so after my 2 year check-up at Dana Farber, I am getting emails. So here is the update and some long awaited info about my donor. First the vitals,
Blood tests were good. White count was 5.1 which were lower than last time but well above 4 which is lowest acceptable range. Not to worry the doctor says since White tends to fluctuate from day to day. Red Cells were 4.7 which were my best ever. Crit was 43.8 also best ever and platelets were at an all time record high of 224. Possibly my best counts in the last 5 years! Dr. Antin said this is very good news and said that he doesn’t want to see me for a whole YEAR (unless I miss him and are having anxiety attacks) He hooked me up with 4 vaccinations and my arm is still killing me 4 days later. I got the FLU SHOT (pays to be a cancer patient) Tetanus, pneumonia, and Haemophilus B (whatever that is). No more shots expected and after this I’m pretty much done with whatever follow up except for yearly check ups. Pretty big milestone I guess, sad to break my ties with these wonderful folks but happy that the issue is pretty much closed.

Next some great news from Dana-Farber about my bone marrow donor. Since the 2 years moratorium has passed on contacting donor and recipient, the program coordinator has been hard at work getting the releases processed. I met with her Tuesday and she revealed my donors name. She is Katrin Kaltenborn of Halle, Germany. I don’t exactly know where that is but I will be writing a letter to her shortly and snail mail it to her. They provided her phone number but since she speaks no English and I have a 3 word German vocabulary, I will just correspond in writing for now. I will enclose photos which she asked for in her last letter. (It seems that they were removed and our names censored due to the regulations about contact) I am hoping of course that she has email so that we don’t have to wait too long to hear from each other. She mentioned that she recently had a baby so I would love to see pictures! I will let you all know on how that progresses.

I have also spoken to people at NBMT (National Bone Marrow Transplant Link) which is a support and resource center for patients, caregivers, physicians and health care providers. They offer a wide variety of information and support to people involved in bone marrow transplants. They have invited me to become a peer counselor with patients who are undergoing treatment and have issues to discuss. I am going to be participating in training via conference call next month and hope to be assisting them shortly after that. Also they have asked me to contribute a letter and photo to be included in their annual fundraising appeal. I admit I won’t look as appealing as a bald kid who asks for money for the Jimmy Fund but who knows, maybe it will tug someones’ heartstrings. You might like to check out their site www.NBMTLINK.Org and see the good work they are doing.

That’s about all from here. Once again, thank you for tuning in. Remember that election time is coming up and no matter who you support, it is important to have your vote heard.

Look at past journal entries

Hospital Information:

Patient Room: Tower 6-A Room 21

Dana-Farber Cancer Center/Brigham & Women's Hospital
45 Frances Street
Boston MA 02115
617-732-6015

Email address  : Spinzucker@aol.com