10th - Magic Mouthwash

Happy Birthday to my favorite girl under 12 years old, my daughter Peyton, who turns 6 years old today!

Thanks to Joelle & Ken Cohn for the copy of The Junction Boys, which tells the story of a great Bear Bryant coached college football team at Texas A&M.  I am the kind of guy who will pick the movie over the book in most circumstances, but I do like reading more if it is a true story like this one.  Thanks to Paige Phillips for bringing dinner and Tracy Kerrins for still more baked goods.

The last week has flown by and has been mostly uneventful (read Dan is spending a lot of time with the iPad).  My biggest challenge has been keeping my white blood cell count up.  It has continued to be low on its own, so Dr. Frenette has continued to give me "booster shots" of Neupogen to keep me healthy enough for treatment.  You may remember that my low Absolute Neutrophil  Count (ANC) of 400 cells/microliter delayed my second treatment by a day.  The question of "how low can you go" was answered last Wednesday when I literally had zero.  To put that in perspective, my body could not fight the trauma sustained when I flossed my teeth.  My entire mouth became inflammed to the point where the nurse prescribed a numbing "Magic Mouthwash".

I am keeping my weight up and walking around the neighborhood every couple days in an attempt to stay active.  I can now walk my neighborhood's three-mile loop in under 50:00 minutes.  We can call it my personal Tour de Ballantyne until someone joins me.

My hair is thinning, but very much still around.  On a positive note, not having to shave my face every day is fantastic.  Here is a recent picture.

Cooper (3), Dan, Peyton (6) on Halloween afternoon.

So, many blood draws and booster shots later, I am ready for treatment tomorrow.  Wish me luck!