Fifth Cycle Done!

Mercifully the weather cooled off in Bethesda by the time I returned for the chemo on Thursday. Nancy came down and kept me company, and put up with my finicky food preferences. It's so strange for someone like me, who's always loved to eat almost everything, to have these crazy food aversions. I know it's the chemo, but it's so weird!
At clinic on Thursday I learned that my CD4 level was now down to 169, so the doctor is pleased and said everything is perfect for proceeding with the transplant. Breezed through cycle #5 with no problems. Was able to go bicycle riding each morning before chemo. Especially nice Sunday morning as I got an early start and there were very few cars on the roads.
Got to Spokane late last night. Mary Catherine drove down to get me, and we stayed with Mary and Tom McFarland. We had a nice visit with them and didn't have to drive home in the middle of the night. A nice Father's Day present was that Sarah came too - she has just returned from six months in South America.
So I'm toughing out these first few days back, and trying to get some stuff done, though it's hard when you feel crummy. The list of things that need to get accomplished before we set out on the long crosscountry drive next Tuesday is somewhat daunting.
We plan to get to Bethesda by July 4th, with stops en route at Minneapolis, Chicago, and Cleveland (three of MC's sisters). I go in the hospital July 7th, get 4 days of "transplant chemo" followed by the actual stem cell transplant on the 14th - which simply involves receiving the 15 bags of stem cells they harvested from Nancy earlier this month. Then I'll be in the hospital for at least 2 weeks, if everything goes well - no complications - and once I have adequate counts of my new white and red blood cells and platelets. Should be interesting.