Chain reaction

First you have chemo to condition your body to accept the donor's stem cells, and drugs to suppress the immune system so as not to reject the transplant, and thus the CMV reactivates itself (see my prior post Learning more), as viruses are apt to do in these situations. This happened to me before with the chicken pox virus. Then you take another drug to counter the CMV, which lowers the white blood cell count to almost nothing. Naturally, then you give yourself injections of another drug to boost the white blood cell count. It's quite a chain reaction. There's a lot of opportunity for medical research to find drugs with fewer side effects.

I've discovered another effect of the transplant. I have been curious about the change of the genetics of my blood. Many years ago I read an article about genetics controlling whether one's urine has a distinctive odor after eating asparagus. Well, apparently it is the blood's genetics that control this, because after the transplant, I no longer have that odor. That's because I apparently no longer produce an enzyme that can break down a chemical found in asparagus. Now, I wonder how many other things will be different?

Last weekend was the best I've had for a long time. We got to go home on Friday, I got to spend a lot of time with Gene, and I got to watch my buddy Chuck race his Camero and win! I wasn't even upset to come back to Seattle early, because it's almost over! This week the doctor said they would start on a discharge plan for me! It's going to be a fine Summer!