May 12, 2010 - The Final Stretch

Marc is heading into what appears to be the final stretch of his chemo treatment.  

The first week of May, Marc was in for another of his rounds in the ring fighting cancer, followed by a few days with mom and dad at aunt wendy and uncle pat's place with cameo appearances by melissa and elijah. Following that was lots of rest and little energy.

He was scheduled to return to UCSF this Friday May 14th but as the past few weeks vitals were not good, it looked like he might have to wait.  And by vitals, i speak of his "counts:" white blood cells, platelets, and etc.  He's had a few transfusions in the last week to supplement his own body's stores of blood.  Becoming well... overcoming cancer, is very involved.

Unfortunately, Marc (and dad) was unable to attend his cousin Jeremy's wedding last weekend as his counts were low enough that mask-or-no the risk of infection was much too high.  Instead they put him on a antibiotics-and-blood-transfusion regimen which is not nearly as exciting as watching two special people make a big commitment, dancing to Vanilla Ice, playing with elijah, and... margaritas.  Yet, he took it like a champ and rested up despite the very real fear of cabin-fever.

Marc has been reading, not exactly for pleasure (he was quite clear that the only thing that sounds pleasurable is to go outside, risk cuts and bruises, and infections which he absolutely can't do now), but it was how he fought off boredom.  According to Marc, "Keep Climbing" was particularly good...

Fortunately, although his counts have remained less-than-stellar, he will be able to start treatment again this Friday. He'll soon be back to floor 11, doing laps, flirting, and offsetting the boredom with trivial pursuit and reading, texting and sleeping.  

May it be so that this is the last trip to UCSF for awhile. May it be that that the next few updates will be full of YAY! May it be that on memorial day that Marc's lymphoma is but a memory (not to slight the true purpose of Memorial Day... just saying).  [Marc's Lymphonma - RIP - January 1010 to June 2010]

Remember to keep Marc near to you, in whatever way that you do, as he puts his head down and barrels for the finish line.

(posted by amber with Marc's permission)