Friday, June 09, 2006
Last Day of School
The week seems to have passed by quickly here in State College. We were fortunate to have a friend from our San Diego days visit us with her 3 children this week, which was a lot of fun for the kids and allowed us to catch up with an old friend. Jack and Spencer had their last day of school today, Jack will be starting 2nd grade in the fall and Spencer will be starting kindergarten. Nathan will be starting preschool this fall as well. It’s been said a million times, but it’s hard to believe they are growing up so fast.
I watched the two World Cup matches today, which by normal standards were high scoring games (Germany beat Costa Rica 4-2, and Ecuador surprised Poland 2-0). I don’t normally have the patience to watch a 90 minute soccer game, but there is something about the World Cup that really makes it exciting. The US has a tough bracket, but they have a solid team with lots of talent. Brazil is the clear favorite, with enough talent to field two solid teams. I usually like to root for the underdog, and a friend of mine from Scotland informed me that under no circumstances was I to root for England (and gave me a long list of good reasons why this is so).
My blood counts (both red and white) have been very low again, which means I am trying to avoid human contact as much as possible. There are several different types of white blood cells that serve different functions, but one common type is called a neutrophil. Neutrophils play an important role in fighting off bacterial infection. As an example, my neutrophil count from yesterday was 200 cells per microliter, where a normal range would be 1800 to 7800 cells per microliter. I suspect that my chemotherapy drug dosages will be reduced slightly for my next treatment as a result of all of this. The good news is that I have avoided getting sick so far, and am feeling reasonably well despite the low counts.
Jenny and I will be doing a good bit of traveling over the next week and a half. I have two follow up appointments in NYC at Sloan Kettering on Wednesday and Thursday of next week. I’ll get an MRI of the spine to check out my vertebrae and see how things look after the radiation treatment. Since the kids are done with school we’ll head to my grandfathers house at the beach in Sea Bright and spend the week there. Jenny and I will ferry in to Manhattan and have plans to spend Wednesday night at a friend’s house in Long Island. We’ll finish the week in Sea Bright and then head to Philly for my next infusion on the 19th. The weather looks promising for a week at the beach, and it should be relatively quiet there. So if you’re trying to get a hold of us it will be best to call our cell phone.
All for now -- take care and be well
Seth
I watched the two World Cup matches today, which by normal standards were high scoring games (Germany beat Costa Rica 4-2, and Ecuador surprised Poland 2-0). I don’t normally have the patience to watch a 90 minute soccer game, but there is something about the World Cup that really makes it exciting. The US has a tough bracket, but they have a solid team with lots of talent. Brazil is the clear favorite, with enough talent to field two solid teams. I usually like to root for the underdog, and a friend of mine from Scotland informed me that under no circumstances was I to root for England (and gave me a long list of good reasons why this is so).
My blood counts (both red and white) have been very low again, which means I am trying to avoid human contact as much as possible. There are several different types of white blood cells that serve different functions, but one common type is called a neutrophil. Neutrophils play an important role in fighting off bacterial infection. As an example, my neutrophil count from yesterday was 200 cells per microliter, where a normal range would be 1800 to 7800 cells per microliter. I suspect that my chemotherapy drug dosages will be reduced slightly for my next treatment as a result of all of this. The good news is that I have avoided getting sick so far, and am feeling reasonably well despite the low counts.
Jenny and I will be doing a good bit of traveling over the next week and a half. I have two follow up appointments in NYC at Sloan Kettering on Wednesday and Thursday of next week. I’ll get an MRI of the spine to check out my vertebrae and see how things look after the radiation treatment. Since the kids are done with school we’ll head to my grandfathers house at the beach in Sea Bright and spend the week there. Jenny and I will ferry in to Manhattan and have plans to spend Wednesday night at a friend’s house in Long Island. We’ll finish the week in Sea Bright and then head to Philly for my next infusion on the 19th. The weather looks promising for a week at the beach, and it should be relatively quiet there. So if you’re trying to get a hold of us it will be best to call our cell phone.
All for now -- take care and be well
Seth
# posted by Seth Edmondson @ 9:40 PM 
