day 9 and feeling fine

well this time around things were quite a bit tougher with the nausea. i have to be honest and say that there is nothing worse than a sustained nausea - especially when you know that eating and drinking is what is necessary for healing. however, a strange thing happened - it passed. on multiple occasions i told jen and my dad i could not do this but they reminded me, multiple times, that i was already doing this. everything was intensified this time and i believe it was in no small part due to the fact that i fell from so high, and it was a mental slide not a physical one. yesterday we found out that my counts are again higher than they were at the last cycle's interim checkpoint - my body is screaming to me that it's ready for this.

my heightened sense of smell is back - further augmented by my lack of nose hair. i swear i could be a crime dog with this nose!!! on the plus side of hair loss, i don't have a five-o'clock shadow at nine in the morning - in fact, i don't have to shave at all. thanks to the wonderful support of my dream team of home nurses (jen and dad this round) and all of your thoughts and prayers, i made it through that valley with even more confidence about what we can accomplish.

2 more things -

congratulations to adam, who ran the boston marathon in 3:19:13. very impressive, especially when you consider the weather conditions which had him running in a hefty bag. also, lance armstrong is the winner of this year's jimmy v award. for those of you who don't know jim valvano - he has a mantra i've thought about since i got this diagnosis (see video link below). his incredible attitude in the face of a terminal diagnosis helped change our culture's perspective on what it means to live a complete life. here is a link to his espy speech from 1993 - if you don't cry... you're a robot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePXlkqkFH6s