When will this blog end?

Having done this now for several months, I can see that writers walk the line between serving their readers, on one hand, and serving themselves, on the other. So, I asked myself, who is the audience of this modest journal? And concluded that it was, primarily, friends and family who genuinely wanted to know how I was doing. Then, as things developed during the blog, we added some readers who just wanted to learn more about the Stem Cell Transplant process, and my experience of it.

As I write, we are on a plane back to our home in Bethesda. This morning at 5:15, we turned off the lights to our empty Palo Alto apartment and locked the door. The rental car went back yesterday. The last of our apartment furnishings went either to our three daughters (all of whom reside in the Bay Area at this moment), or to patient #4.
This past Friday, #4 and his wife moved into an apartment above us. He has begun his vaccine process and will progress, smoothly no doubt, through his transplant in a couple of months. When April comes, he will thankfully bequeath his accumulated household goods to patient #8, and so on.

My personal expectations, in the near term, are mundane. If I can avoid the related illnesses that are sometimes a consequence of the transplant, the remainder of my experience will consist of a few overnight trips back to Palo Alto:
In February, my final inspection by Dr. Weng (Hopefully final, anyway). In late March, I will be given the sixth and final vaccine treatment. Finally (if I may point out the understated finality of this paragraph), an April follow-up that may, or may not, indicate in a scientifically valid way, any long term prognosis for success of the vaccine. In July, 2011, I will attend the class of 2010 reunion. The return trips this year might provide some interesting news, so I promise to post whatever I learn. After that, my work here is probably done.

Just as most other MCL patients who choose the autologous transplant route, from this point on, we all just watch and wait. And watching and waiting is not the stuff of good blogs. At least, not for any of the readership that I serve.
So thank you all for reading thus far, and for sending your comments and notes of support. If I lacked the energy to respond, I hope you understand how important each was to me during a long and sometimes trying process. If you were seeking information about the SCT process, maybe these posts have been helpful. If there are some other classes of readers (veering a little into self-indulgence now), this is where the fun ends and I return to regular life.
January 31, 2010