My Golden Birthday

According to urbandictionary.com one's 'Golden Birthday' is, "the birthday when you turn the same age as your birth date. My wife tells a fantastic story of how on her 23rd birthday (her golden birthday) she visited a church in Brazil that was completely made of gold. Well, it just so happens that my golden birthday is coming up - I turn 30 on August 30th. While many individuals dread their 30th revolution around the sun, I will be more than thrilled if I can live to the ripe young age of thirty! Allow me to explain...

We met with Dr. Porter on Tuesday morning. The bone marrow biopsy from last week revealed the 5 weeks of chemo I endured before leaving Utah brought my cancer to a mere 6%! My blood counts are great, my weight is up, and my lungs sound good - no more bronchitis. I'm still tapering off of prednisone due to my bought of hives/emergency room visit last week. Dr. Porter recommended we wait for one week to ensure they don't return after I'm off steroids. This means I am scheduled to start chemo the second week of August, and I will receive my t-cell treatment the following week.

This puts me right amidst a cytokine storm as I approach my 30th birthday. What's a cytokine storm? Wikipedia explains it this way, "A cytokine storm, also known as hypercytokinemia, is a potentially fatal immune reaction consisting of a positive feedback loop between cytokines and immune cells." This immune reaction is not necessarily a bad thing, it basically means that my new "mighty mutant ninja t-cells" are going "incredible hulk" on the "criminal leukemia" in my body. If they are victorious in this epic battle of cellular superheros - I get to celebrate my golden birthday!