Wow, I feel a ton better this morning than yesterday and finally have some interest in food.

I had my usual lemon water to start, along with a yummy coffee and a smoothie (vegetables/fruit/avocado). As the day wore on I better and better which made me realize how ill I felt yesterday.

At 8am along with my usual medications Fernie gave me:

Ondansetron 8mg (anti-nausea)
Dexamethasone .5mg (steroid)
Pantoprazole 40mg (PPI)
Aprepitant 80mg (drug to prevent vomiting/nausea)

The chemo (Cyclophosphamide) is still in my body working hard at killing cells so it’s imperative I keep drinking a lot of water to flush out the toxic by-products which can cause hemorrhagic cystitis.

I feel my reading vision is starting to decline a bit. I noticed this too when I was treated with another chemo called Alemtuzumab, and my reading vision dropped quickly during those years.

Sidebar: a few years ago to help with my health, I had over fifty sessions (90 mins each) of hyperbaric oxygen treatments (HBOT). These sessions were outstanding. They improved my brain function, and the other epic side effect was that my reading vision corrected to normal (from a +2.50 reader). I only needed a minor distance prescription. When I return home I hope I can have more of these treatments to help my brain/body/eyes recover faster.

The plan for the next seven days is I receive one shot/day of Filgrastim. It’s a drug that forces stem cells out of my bone marrow (sternum, pelvis, femur, etc.) and into my blood system. We want as many of these cells as possible to collect for my apheresis and then transplant. There is a minimum amount of stem cells that are required, so until that minimum is reached, I have to keep receiving the daily shots.

Dr. Alex came to my apartment today and administered my first shot subcutaneously. It’s quite painful so best to get it in as fast as possible. The daily dose is:

Filgrastim: 600 micrograms.

I was honoured this afternoon with an interview on Zoom by one of my favourite bloggers. Dang, she’s got it going on! More to come on that…

Later, I had a lovely visit on the so-called rooftop patio with the other lady Elvia who is also having HSCT (and her caregiver Ana). I had to wear my winter jacket as it’s freaking cold here.


Still trying to get the Olympics on TV. Thanks for the suggestion Nicole, but my ROKU doesn’t seem to have the VPN option. I have VPN’s for phone, computer, etc.

Final meds of the day (outside of my own) at 8pm:

Ondansetron 8mg