Monday was Day +180 post transplant
Things are going well for me in terms of health. I can do regular workouts and I can string together a couple of six-hour sleep nights in a row and I’m fine. Pretty much back to normal there. I can have a few beers, too, and within a week or two I’ll be filling the hot tub back up and I’ll be back in business!
Thursday I went in for some tests. One of which was a test that measure the percentage of my blood that has the donor’s cells. The target is to keep this above 95%. Back in November I was hit with the Epstein-Barr virus. It was a terrible month for me and I had a lot of trouble recovering. I went in for weekly Rituximab injections to battle this and it worked. Anyway, the EBV knocked my donor’s cells down to 85% and the doctor was concerned. But after Rituximab I tested at 89% at the end of December and 92% at the end of January. So the hope is that the results of the Thursday test will show >95%. If that’s the case, then I really have zero complaints about my progress. It’s as good as can possibly be. I’ll hear back in a week or two.
I’m still not venturing into crowds or parties. Still haven’t seen Star Wars. Looking forward to reaching one year on August 29 in perfect health. Hoping to actually go camping in August? Maybe go on vacation down south next winter? So close to normalcy!
I’m not able to learn the identity of my donor, nor him mine. But I sent an anonymous note of thanks and will learn (if he chooses) who it is after one year.
Thank you for your warm thoughts and well wishes that kept me going last summer! Don’t forget to join the stem cell donation registry if you haven’t already. You’re seeing first hand what it can do.
Dobber's Take 
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