Comeback

No blood test this week, so no objective indicators — but I'm feeling better fast.

My extended family all made the trek to Ann Arbor for Christmas, six from North Carolina and four from Connecticut. They arrived late on the 22nd. That day and the next couple of days I got pretty tired and had to take naps in the afternoon. But starting Christmas Day, I abandoned the naps. On the 26th I spent 25 minutes on exercise machines, 25 minutes of yoga, then took an almost 2-hr walk with my brothers. And no nap. That would've been inconceivable a week earlier.

My mental hemoglobin calculation goes like this: I was at 9.1 on Dec. 17, four weeks after starting chemo. The median patient reaches normal (14-17.3) eight weeks from the start of treatment. Should be a linear progression, since it's based on red blood cell genesis replacing 1 percent of cells per day. So I should be going from 9.1 to 14 (or higher) in four weeks. That would be a gain of at least 1.25 each week.

It's been eleven days since Dec. 17, so I should've gained about 2 — which would put me at 11.1 today! Feels like it, too. Next test coming on Monday. By then white counts should be normal, except lymphocytes.

Strange: I've been dreaming a lot recently. No dreams at all during and after chemo, or at least none that I remember. Maybe my brain was too oxygen-starved to have any.