Good to GO 11/29/05

This morning we woke to very slight snow on the ground, cold temperature, and very little wind. The weather is almost the same this afternoon but it feels colder maybe because the wind has picked up a little.

I went to the Charlton building lobby level this morning as usual to get my growth factor injections and blood drawn for CD34 test. Yesterday, the CD34 level was 5.4. I got a call a few minutes ago from the Nurse Coordinator at Charlton Station 9-4 reporting my CD34 test results for today. Today I am a 10.3. That means I will be reporting to Charlton Desk 10 East tomorrow morning to begin stem cell collection. I am told stem cell collection sessions can go for five hours. However, at this point, the "marker," if you will, we are aiming for is 9 million stem cells collected. They will get as many as they can per session until we reach nine million. When I go to transplant, they will use 3 million of my stored stem cells and save the remainder for when they might be needed later.

I got checked by the dentist this afternoon. He said I was good to go. I also got a dental x-ray by a new machine that was so cool. You are required to stand rather than recline in a chair. The new machine is basically similar to the old ones that take a picture of your entire mouth except that it is digital and uses no x-ray film. It sends the picture directly to a computer. They gave me a glossy printout to take back home to my dentist.

During our free time this morning, we went to the Urology Department to try to get my appointment with the Urologist moved from Thursday to today. They rescheduled me for this morning. After visiting with two Urologists, they pronounced me urologically fit. We have no idea where the blood was coming from but are fairly certain whatever it was is not additional cancer and does not pose a significant risk to proceeding with transplant.

There are lots of stores in the subway: clothing stores, fast food restaurants, specialty stores, etc. While we were in the pharmacy store the other day, I saw a CD titled, How to Talk Minnesotan - A Visitor's Guide. It is a recording of a book by the same title written by Howard Mohr, a writer for the Prairie Home Companion as heard on National Public Radio. Since I am a fan of Prairie Home Companion and Garrison Keillor, it caught my attention. I checked it out on the internet and decided I might try to pick up a copy if I found myself in a book store any time soon. Well, we visited the local Barns and Noble book store today and I bought a copy of the book. So far, the book is not so bad. I'm going to have to start listening a little closer to native Minnesotans to confirm some of the stuff in the book. You can check out the book for yourself at

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0140092846/103-1202165-9659808?v=glance&n=283155&s=books&v=glance

The thing I like about this book (and many others with the same kind of poking-fun-at-rural-life style humor) is that we in the South are cast in somewhat the same light as the rural Minnesotan and can share that in common. There are many in Minnesota who resent this kind of humor as there are many in the South who resent being stereotyped as the dumb Gomer from the South. But as a friend from the Pacific Northwest once told me, you can sometimes use that to your advantage.

That's all for now. Stay tuned for further developments.