Ty-Fighters Day 22

So far the Ty-fighters seem to be working really well. I've been taking the drug for 3 weeks now and, as expected, my white blood cell count and neutrophils have dropped very low. Being neutropenic gives me less energy, and puts me in a much more precarious position for getting infections, fevers, etc.... So far I have not been sick, but I'm being very careful and doing lots of hand washing, drinking lots of fluids, sleeping, and eating well. I have needed to go to SCCA every other day for blood draws and transfusions. Most of the transfusions have been to give me platelets, but I have also needed some red blood cells a couple times. The reason I believe that the drug is working is because on Day 1 when I started the ponatnib, my blast % was at 79%.....meaning that 79% of the cells they looked at in my blood sample showed disease. Every blood draw since day 1 has shown the blast % to decrease, with my most recent blood draw showing that percentage down to 10. That was on day 20.

Clearly the amount of Ty-fighters have decreased, but the Stormtroopers have decreased far more significantly. Actually, my day 20 blood draw showed a slight increase in white blood cell count and my neutrophils doubled from 30 to 60 which may be a good sign. Any sign of an increase in neutrophils is good and I will know more tomorrow. So now it's off to recruit more Ty-fighters and get some good sleep.

Clear eyes.........Full hearts......Can't Lose!

Tyler