I know it’s been a long time since I’ve given an update, but before I start the update I have to say, prayer works, and thank you for all the thousands of prayers offered on our behalf. This has been a tough 2 ½ weeks. You might have heard or be tempted to say, “Jim’s tough, he’s a fighter”, but this had nothing to do with me. The fact that I’m sitting at home right now giving you this update, is all God’s hand once again working in my life. There were many days I had no energy and no desire for energy, I’d just lie in bed waiting for the days to pass. The fact that my blood counts responded so quickly and allowed me an early discharge had nothing to do with me or my fight. Prayer works.

The days following the transplant are a blur. I know that immediately following the transplant I felt pretty good, but as each day passed and my blood counts crept towards zero, I had less and less energy. Rock bottom was Monday the 19th into Tuesday the 20th. I’d acquired an infection in the stomach, and starting Monday afternoon, I had a fever, high blood pressure, and high pulse rate. As the evening progressed, I developed rigors, which is uncontrollable shivering or shaking. I got Demerol to relieve the shaking, but it came back within 45 minutes. They gave me over 2 liters of fluid throughout the night and a blood transfusion-they wanted to give me two units but were only able to give me one due to the high fever. The fever broke around 3 a.m. Tuesday and the worst was over. The next couple of days are simply gone, I just know I had had no energy and didn’t really care. Amazingly, my blood counts started going back up Tuesday, and made dramatic increases on Thursday. Not surprising, Thursday’s the day I started feeling better. My counts kept getting better, to the point where there wasn’t any reason to keep me in the hospital. Saturday the 24th I was discharged, but needed to stay local in case anything came up, plus I had a follow up appointment on the 27th. At the appointment it was determined that because of my counts and the fact I had had good care available at home, there wasn’t really any reason to keep me around. They were a little nervous about the release because it was earlier than they expected. They made it clear I’m supposed to limit my contact with others as much as possible and wear a mask when there is contact, and notify all the doctors whenever I have any new symptoms-cold, fever, anything. So the next couple of months will be interesting as my immune system rebounds.

I’m still very tired and my energy seems to fluctuate throughout the day. Being home should help me get better more quickly, but I’m sure there’ll be a lot of long days sitting at home.
Again, thank you for all your prayers and support. It works.
Prayer works.

I'm probably going to forget some stuff, just because it seems like there's been a lot going on. We arrived in St. Louis Friday afternoon, got lab work done, then was admitted to the hospital and in my room by 4:30. My first round of chemo was scheduled for Friday night around 10:30. To help with one of the side effects, they recommended chewing ice before, during and after chemo. The treatment was a little late getting started, so I was chewing ice until about midnight! Second chemo treatment was Saturday morning at 10:30. Same ice routine. Sunday was supposed to be my day of rest, but that's pretty much impossible in the hospital. Today was day 0, or transplant day. They brought my stem cells in the room in a cryogenic tube at about 11:30, then thawed them in a water bath. I had two bags of cells to take in and each one took about 15 minutes. I've just been resting since then.
I've been feeling pretty good, minor bouts with nausea, no appetite, and just tired. They say my worst days are still to come, probably day 4 or 5 post transplant, where I will just feel bad and not want to do anything at all. That should only last a day or so then I should start feeling better.
Tida of course took pictures during the transplant, so at some point I'll get those posted along with the pictures of the harvest of the stem cells. I'll try to keep this going for everyone, I know there's so much support out there. Thank you all!

I’m finally starting to feel like I have some energy again. I did absolutely nothing over the weekend and didn’t go to work Monday. Finally Monday afternoon I felt like a doing a few little chores around the house, so I‘d do a chore for 15 minutes or so, then rest for an hour. Now that’s a schedule I’d like to maintain for a long time! I’m back to work now, but I’ve decided that I just don’t need to push myself, so I’m cutting out early and getting some good rest time in.
I’ve been really emotional the last couple of weeks. I’d like to blame it on the radiation, but I think it’s just that I’ve been very aware of the number of really good people that God’s surrounded me with, and how much they truly care. Realizing I don’t have to be “superman”, cutting back on hours worked, and letting people do things for me has been difficult but necessary for my physical well being. It’s also helped open my eyes and made me much more aware of all the good people out there. I appreciate all of you and your support.

I’ll try to post again before we head out to St. Louis Friday morning, but after that, don’t be surprised if you don’t hear from me for a few days. I’m thinking I may not feel real well after I get my initial treatments.

I finished up my radiation treatments today and I actually felt better today than I have for a few days. I guess leaving work early and trying to take care of myself has helped. I'm still amazed at the quality of people we've met and continue to meet throughout this ordeal. The radiation tech's are just incredible people and both times we've finished treatments we feel like we're leaving friends. Also, there's a young man that manages the valet parking at the Peet Center (where I go for radiation) and he's been there for both rounds of radiation and any other time we need to go to the Center. He's planning on being in St. Louis while I'll be there and he asked for contact information so he could visit while he's there. Amazing.
Of course family's always there. My sister-in-laws and mother-in-law are keeping me in food while Tida's been needing to work late hours this week. I know it's a relief to Tida knowing that I'm getting fed, especially since the radiation has caused me to lose several pounds this week even while I'm trying to eat.
I'm going to try to relax this weekend, watch a lot of football and NASCAR, and build my strength up for next week.