Another round of chemo done!

Sunday completed day seven of the second round of Vidaza (third round of chemo). Let me just say that chemo seven days in a row is more exhausting than one would think. I am lucky that my care team scheduled afternoon appointments because I'd finish the appointment and be rather zombie-like. However, after a night of sleep, I could function semi-normally the next morning until I had to do it all over again. Thank you so much to everyone who drove me to appointments, walked or biked with me, or came to visit and keep me entertained.

I met with Dr. Atallah yesterday. Blood counts are still in the good range:
WBC: 4.0 (low normal)
ANC: 2.92 (low normal)
HGB: 9.5
PLT: 79K

Given the fact that I've had a week of chemo, I wasn't sure if having "good" counts was actually a good thing, or if my counts should be dropping to show that the chemo worked (because both previous rounds the counts dropped by day 7 and yesterday was day 8). However, in November I had come into the hospital with low counts initially, and my second round of chemo (first Vidaza) was started before my counts had a chance to recover from the first round, so it's more typical to see the drops around day 14. I will have labs drawn twice a week for the next two weeks, and then see Dr. Atallah to determine if I have another bone marrow biopsy. (I've added days needing drivers to the google spreadsheet.)

I then asked about the cytogenetics and what impact they will have on my transplant--that is, if the biopsy still shows mutations, does it delay the transplant? He said that he would discuss it further with Dr. Hamadani (the transplant doctor) but that it would not delay the transplant--the impact is that if there are still cytogenetic mutations, it's more likely that I would relapse after the transplant. They can give additional chemo post-transplant to minimize this, but it's a very real risk. So let's hope that the current Vidaza + Venetoclax are knocking out the genetic mutations in preparation for the transplant.

If my next bone marrow biopsy shows that the bone marrow is still hypocellular and blast-free, and a donor has been secured, then we move to transplant. (This is both extremely exciting and absolutely terrifying.) As a general guideline, I'd be in the hospital about a week to get intense chemo to knock out my entire immune system, then the transplant, and then in the hospital about 3-4 more weeks to build up my new immune system and manage side effects. It's getting real.

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Other than doctor appointments, I've been watching some TV (finished The Good Place--soooo good! Finished Grace & Frankie--which I'm lukewarm on). I tried several podcasts and absolutely love Dolly Parton's America! I've done some biking (indoors and out). And I finally finished the socks that I started knitting for Greg when I was admitted to the hospital in November.

I feel very lucky that January was relatively mild and allowed me to be outside as much as I was. The outdoors are an amazing mood-booster!