Everything still remains on track for a hospital admission of October 8th. Day 0 (the day I receive my transplant) is scheduled for October 14th. Between these dates I will be receiving my conditionjng chemo protocol which includes high doses of methotrexate and cytarabine, as well as one treatment of TBI (total body irradiation) on the day before my transplant. This all serves to make sure they kill any remain leukemic cells before they replace my immune system with donor cells.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve also been getting radiation every day to my chest. This radiation treatment isnt very intensive and there arent a lot of side effects typically but I do get it every day. It only takes 20 minutes or so though.

I had to have another bone marrow biopsy done last week as well, results are unchanged from before which is good news. I’m also (hopefully) done with lumbar punctures for good now. The last several have been clear so as long as this one is clear too, no more spinal taps!

Other than all that, I’m feeling pretty good. I did have a couple really bad headaches over the past couple weeks but those seem to have gone away (knock on wood). Although I have to ween off the dexamethasone (steroid) im prescribed for headaches which causes muscle pain and wierd sleeping habits. I keep waking up at 6 am with nowhere to go. I wish that were the case normally I would be so much more productive at school and I wouldnt sleep through early classes.

Still fighting,

Ethan Wissell