1 Week Delay?

Alright so here's the deal:

I went ALL the way to London today for the start of my second cycle. Since it's the start of a new cycle, I have to get extra blood tests and a visit with my medical oncologist before doing any chemo. Well, it turns out the neutrophil count in my blood is at 0.6 when it should be at a minimum of 1.5! Don't worry it's not like I die or anything, it's a very common side effect to the (very high) doses of chemo they're giving me. Anyways, my doctor said that they have to delay this week's treatment to next week after they give me some sort of stimulant that raises the neutrophil count. Yup, they inject me with stuff that stimulates my bone marrow to produce more (sounds intense I know!).

So basically I have this week off now. It's kinda bittersweet since that gives me one less week to recover in time for Thailand to still be viable. Which reminds me, I sent an emial out to the head of the Thai district's youth exchange program. He sent me an email back saying that he would be able to accept me for this year of exchange up until the end of November! That means that once my chemo is done (which is now even closer to the end of October), I'll have one month to recover enough to go. Now I know I'm strong annd young so I can recover faster but I was still concerned. I asked my doctor and she said that it shouldn't be a problem at all. "Sure you won't be completely recovered but you should be ready by that point."

It's still possible :D

I know I mentioned in my last post about considering taking up an instrument. Well, a friend of my parents was kind enough to lend their guitar to me! That should occupy me for awhile!

I also want to quickly mention something kinda cool. There's this show I love to watch called "The Conventioneers" about two guys based out of Toronto who go to health conventions, outdoor conventions, comic conventions, you name it and they, to put it in their words, "try to fit in by sticking out." Anyways, I sent an email to one of the hosts and he sent me an email back. A couple days later, I get a package in the mail with a letter, a "Bite TV" touque, and three Conventioneer buttons (two autographed)! Awesome (haha, I can STILL get buttons for my Rotary blazer :P)!! If you want to check the show out, you can see all the episodes at their Youtube account:

http://www.youtube.com/user/jasonagnew

As always, thank you all for your support and I'll continue posting about my chemo experience (and soon, Thai experience!)

Fun Fact: When they started the chemo, one of the blood tests they do is to determine how high a certain cancer marker is in my system (and thus the severity of the cancer). It started out at 175 and after only one cycle, it's down to 20!