11 September 2008
Thursday, 9:45 PM
High-Level Journal Summary: Getting a summary of my WBC this morning. To my utter surprise, I finally got a count of over 3.00 K/uL. Finally. With one day left, we finally got this last spot in the clinical trial.
At this point, we were able to call NIH and request all the tests which need to be redone. They are now all lined up again, so we are in position to have them all redone once more. I need to get a great night of sleep so that I can pass them okay on Friday, no matter what. That means getting a great night of sleep.
Amen. Thanks for all the praying, my friends. This makes a significant difference in my life. Now, all I need to do is pass the tests I passed so easily about 14 days ago. As soon as I do that, I will be in position to start this Avastin + Enzastaurin Clinical Trial, once and for all.
Countdowns:
1.) On 9/12/08, go to NIH (the National Institutes of Health) for several checkups. This is because I passed my basic White Blood Cell (WBC) count today. With only one day left, what a relief. I just got back from a 2-hour celebration with my parents on this tremendous victory. A whopping 3.00 K/uL is all we needed, and we got a 3.07 K/uL instead. Now, we have the medical numbers which allow us to charge forward with the Avastin + Enzastaurin Clinical Trial. We are finally there.
2.) I will have to redo several important tests which ran out this week. Phlebotomy, Echocardiogram, EKG, CT Scan, OP-12 (not sure what this is yet), and finally the Avastin Infusion, which will last 90 minutes this time around.
2008 Seizure Activity:
1.) Last Simple Partial Seizure, or SPS, was 14 days ago.
2.) In 2008, I have had 79 SPS's in 255 days. This is an average of 1 SPS every 3.2 days.
Actual Journal: I cannot quite believe it, but we actually passed the mark we were looking to pass. My parents could not quite believe it, either. However, I got to the point where I finally passed the WBC (White Blood Cell) count of 3.0 K/uL. We finally got there at about 9:30 AM this morning.
Just in time
I went out to my car and immediately started driving to NIH, the home were all the free Avastin + Enzastaurin will be worked in combination. Sort of illegally, I was also making phone calls in the far right light lane as I drove, to the point where I was more tired than anything else. I did not care. I just wanted to get to NIH and kick off this puppy.
When I reached my nurses, they told me to come in on Friday. That is when they made all kinds of appointments for me already. If it was going to happen, then that was their best guess on when it would happen. Pretty good guess on their part. Actually, it could not have been better.
Celebration
This exhausted me today. I am not very tired by the end of the day, but this time around, I am beat. It is only 9:10 PM, and I am already wiped out. Ugh. Too much for me this time around.
However, think of the benefits from this single test today. Now, I am in position to take a better test over the next few weeks. I realize that I must take tests one at a time, like all tests. At the same time, I can see myself getting to new stages, just like with previous testing. I did not give up on what I set for myself with stages. I did not give up on myself for what I set for myself with clinical trials. I stuck with all of these things, and I still qualified for the trial.
Wow. That is enough to make me take a big sigh of relief. My parents set the sigh of relief, though -- far ahead of me. By the time I arrived at the Carlyle, they had already started this celebration for a son started together on my brother's first birthday (to the day). Now, we are in celebration mode for today's victory, even though we did not start this countdown until 9/3/08, which was not that long ago at all.
What next?
Now, a great night of sleep. I am not going to get much sleep tonight. Not at all. I need to get going at an early start tomorrow. Then, I will be up for the rest of the day. I will miss most of my rest throughout the day. That is something I try to avoid, at all costs, but in this arena, it is far best for me to do this tomorrow. I need to get started ASAP. No doubt about it at all.
