My white count had increased to 3.32 this morning. I won't post results of the white count again unless there's a big change in them. My platelets changed from 16 yesterday to 15 today so I'm hoping that means that I am holding my own on platelets. Maybe they will soon start to go up on their own but I did receive a bag of platelets today and one unit of blood.
It seemed as if we were never going to get out of the hospital today and be released. They had to remove the PICC line late this afternoon that was not as easy as I had hoped. The device has something to hold it in that resembles a hook on each side of it. When they started to remove it, the hooks would not release from the flesh inside my arm. The nurse worked on it awhile and each time he pulled, it created quite a bit of pain. He gave up and called another nurse and she had the same problem and finally she gave up and called a doctor. He came and pulled and tugged and each time the pull and tug caused even more pain so he gave up and called a surgeon. The surgeon gave me several injections of Lidocaine around the site of the PICC line and pulled it out and that finally worked. Thank goodness!
We finally got to the apartment and it is lovely, and quiet and just wonderful to be here. I have to go back to MIRT in the morning at 9 and then I have an appointment with Dr. Van Rhee.
I'm sorry I'm so late posting this but we have been running so behind this afternoon.

My white count increased today from 3.06 (yesterday ) to 3.32. I probably will not get a growth factor shot tonight to stimulate production of white blood cells. I have been getting the growth factor shots to increase my white count. My platelet count was down again today to 16. They have been trying to keep it above 20. If it is not higher tomorrow, I will be getting another bag and possibly two bags of platelets. I'll be closely watching my platelet count in the next several days and hoping the count is going to go up.
We met a nice Mennonite family here today who have a daughter here that has leukemia. They live about 170 miles from here and there must have been about 30 of them, including kids, here to visit the one in the hospital. It really reminded me of being around the Amish when we go there. We enjoyed talking with them.
I hope you have a good start to a new week.

This is our 36th day in the hospital.
My white count went from 2.32 yesterday to 3.06 today. I will get my last growth factor shot tonight so the white count is forecast to drop some after these injections stop before it continues to go up. It actually could be at a maximum at this point, I guess. I did not get platelets today. They will see if I can hold my own on my platelet count or if they will go down again. Of course I am hoping that it will hold or go up in the count.
This was my first day to get out among other people without a mask on. We even walked downstairs and went out to the parking garage to take a couple of items. I still expect that we will be released to go to the apartment on Monday.
Thanks very much for both of your comments on yesterday's posting. They are much appreciated.

My white count went from 1.76 yesterday to 2.32 today. I will soon stop taking the growth factor shots so the white count will drop but I don't know how much. I got a large bag of platelets this morning.
I got the sedated bone marrow biopsy today without any problems. One of the nurses there is from England and we got to know her from back in 2013 when she worked in the infusion area. It was good to see her again. She was always real good to me and still is.
Thank you all for your comments and support. I sure appreciate it. Joanie, to answer your questions... just include us in your prayers and that all goes well with the stem cell transplant and it's successful afterwards... donor stem cells are sometimes used from siblings, but there are often serious problems when doing that. The most successful is when a person uses their own stem cells for the transplant.
The doctor told us today we would be leaving the hospital Monday or possibly Tuesday. We have been able to get an apartment from the church ministry "Home Away from Home" as we have often in the past. I will still have to continue to come to UAMS for platelets and other reasons.
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Today was a very busy and sometimes hectic day. During breakfast, we had two doctors and two APNs in the room at one time. One of the doctors was Van Rhee. He told us he plans on doing a stem cell transplant in about 2 weeks. He has some concerns about it which gives me concerns also. The main thing that he is concerned about is developing into MDS. MDS is deadly. Since I had a poor stem cell harvest, it would tend to create a situation where MDS could happen. He does not think the chance of that happening would be greater than 10%. He said at this point we don't have a lot of options. He thinks there'll be about a 4-week recovery after the transplant. He said my numbers would be very slow in coming back up due to the way my bone marrow recovers. In preparation for the stem cell transplant I will have to have a whole new round of testing similar to what I have when I come to Little Rock each time. Today I went for an echocardiogram and a pulmonary test just to see if I can make it through the stem cell transplant okay. Tomorrow I go for a bone marrow biopsy. The remainder of the tests will be done next week. Thank you all for your prayers. I appreciate them more than I can say. I hope you will continue to pray as we both will need them.
The last few days I've noticed the temperature going up at home inside the house. It has continued to go up even though the heat pump indicates it is running. I called Custom heat and air conditioning today and had them come out and check it and they found the compressor has gone bad. I don't know why things like that happen when you're away from home but it seems like that's the way it happens. At this point, I plan on getting them to repair it even though we are not home.
My white count went from 1.25 to 1.76 today. I will go off the growth factor shots soon and when I do, the doctor said they will drop again but that is normal.
Joy, thank you for the nice comment. I agree with you growing up back then has a lot of good memories.
I hope everyone has good days ahead.

I got 2 bags of platelets today.

My white blood cell count increased today from 1.09 yesterday to 1.25 today. My hemoglobin and red cell count is also increasing.
I don't have anything new to report today. I didn't see a doctor other than the hospital doctor but tomorrow I should be seeing doctor Van Rhee.
That is all I have to report today. It's been a pretty calm day. I hope you are enjoying whatever you're doing and looking forward to tomorrow.