Puttin the Muffin Top Back On

I have been at home here for a month now in Sacramento. That is a lot longer than I thought I would be here. Getting ready for the bone marrow transplant has taken longer than I thought. The most likely donors are my siblings who have been doing everything they can to expedite the process. Their blood is being tested now and there should be results by next Friday. That will narrow it down some and there will have to be further testing after that. The doctors have been pretty vague about my future schedule. When I said before that I was going to go right back into the hospital at UCSF it was because the plan then was to go into my first round of consolidation chemotherapy. Now the doctors have decided to forego the chemotherapy and go directly to the bone marrow transplant. The urgency has something to do with my rare form of AML with the mutant FLT3/ITD gene. I have been to SF twice now with Billie for testing and preparation. I will go back Monday for a few more tests. Last time we took BART into SF and it was pretty easy to transfer to MUNI on the N line directly to the hospital. It was slower but much easier than driving the whole way.

Meanwhile at home.... I have started running my dogs again with my scooter. I started out with short runs along the neighborhood sidewalks. Now I am taking them down the street to the local park where we can run along the river for longer distances. I am seriously considering going to Washington state for the Pacific Northwest Dryland Championships. I was second there last year. I doubt I can win because my dogs have lost so much training time. It would be nice to go and just be part of that scene again. The dates are Oct 24th and 25th. The location is Roslyn Washington. Roslyn is slightly famous because they filmed the TV show "Northern Exposure" there. The way things are going I think I might still be waiting for my transplant. It might be my last opportunity for a long time to race my dogs.

I forgot to ask my doctor if getting off my ass was right for me. I went ahead anyway and started riding my bike again. At first I thought I would get out of breath and fall off but that didn't happen. My red cell count is still low but not much below normal. I can't go real fast but I have been riding up to thirty miles almost every day now. I have gained about two thirds of the weight I lost and my legs look a little more normal now. Only two recumbents (the shame) have passed me and that was a few weeks ago.