GVD- treatment 2

Yesterday I had my second treatment of GVD. The doctor said my bloodwork looked all good and physically I look pretty good. The mucositis that was starting earlier this week is both better and worse. I now have one open area behind my last tooth on the bottom left, but I don't have the feeling that my whole mouth will erupt into one giant mouth sore. The doctor looked at my sore and said "Yea, that will get worse." and gave me some suggestions for treatment/prevention and to ask for a script for pain if I needed one. With past chemos I've been exceptional at keeping mucositis to a minimum and I hope this round will be the same. I use a homemade saline solution a couple times a day (I prefer a slightly hypertonic solution as opposed to isotonic solution. It seems like the extra salt helps with inflamation in the short term) I do a quick brush after each meal, not a full-on brush but just to decrease the bacterial load in my mouth and I use a low alcohol mouthwash twice a day. It may seem like a lot of work but you have to remember that this is the protocol I used during my Auto transplant and I never developed mucositis then (A hospital record, I do believe).

This afternoon I'm supposed to go into the clinic and get a shot of Aranest and neupogen. These shots boost both my red blood cells and white blood cells. The chemo is famous for dramatically lowering my blood counts and the shots will support my levels so I don't need a blood transfusion or antibiotics. The worst part about these shot is that a couple of days after the injection I feel literally like iv'e been beat with a baseball bat. Iv'e had both these shots before individually and this will be the first time I get them in tandem so I expect to really be hurting in a couple of days. I suppose this is the price of avoiding another blood transfusion, which to me is the worst thing I've been asked to do during this whole cancer thing.

On a nonhealth related note, last night the whole family plus Auntie Em went to see Sasame Street Live. It was really fun, josh was jumping up and down and clapping and yelling at Elmo and the rest of the gang. The evening almost didn't happen because I accidently ordered the tickets thru ticketmaster and bought tickets for the wrong date. When I called to see if I could exchange for that nights show I got the standard "Its not our policy to exchange B.S." I'm not entirely clear on the circumstances but someone that had been following my treatment progress in the internet made a couple of phonecalls and arranged for tickets to be waiting for us at the ticketbooth free of charge to us. How Awesome!!