Little by Each

There’s a pretty good reason why you haven’t heard from me in a while… things have not been terrific… all health related. I spent a total of three weeks in-patient at Moffitt while they tried to fix the edema and the Big “D”. They cut me loose in time for the kids Jack and Jill Shower, which I really loved attending, but we still had issues… edema, “D” and CMV, which is a virus that all of us have. However, as long as your immune system is working, it stays in check. Not for me. On Monday, I was told that the CMV indicator was negative, so we’ve beaten that down. I really hate the fact that we’re fighting this on several fronts. But that’s one down.

OH, did I mention I’m in COMPLETE REMISSION!!!! What a relief to say that… one less factor to worry about!

Then there was the wedding looming over the horizon and Dr. T wanted me to spend every day at the treatment center. Again, my guardian angel, Tony was with me. He was supposed to come the Thursday before the wedding, but changed his flight and came a week+ early. I was released on Friday, in time for the rehearsal and the rehearsal get-together. Becky and Sean invited some folks to come over later (Oh, did I mention the festivities were at our house… heck, we have the room, the lanai, etc.). I went to bed before some of the people left!!! BTW, the wedding was a BLAST! The Food, Music and most of all, our friends and relatives who came from several states to help us celebrate. I’m especially thankful, not that she came… I knew she would… but for her KILLER CELLS were awesome. My sister, Marie.

So today was a not so good day. Things started out OK, but I noticed some shortness of breath… checked my blood sugar (OK), then my BP (OK), so I lay pretty low all day and drank lots of stuff… water, Gatorade. Big “D” appeared and made the afternoon a challenge… another day in paradise. Another bright spot is that the edema has pretty much gone away. The only thing left to fix is the GVHD, and according to Dr. T., this could take upwards of another 6 months.

All in all, we’re making progress. We have bad days, we have good days. I’m trying to regain my strength… the prednisone is a real sapper of muscle mass, especially quadriceps, arms and shoulders. We work on this every day, just trying to stay ahead of the game. What really bothers me is that I was doing so well 100 days after transplant (this was the middle of July). I was starting to get back to normal, even driving on short jaunts.

We’ll get through this… won’t we?

In the next week or so, I should have put together a story… the ultimate Road Trip story, of a trip that Ruth Ann and I, along with her parents and Becky took to the Southern Ozarks in 1975. I’ve been racking my brain for details about the trip, and son-of-a-gun, I’ve been able to remember a lot about that trip… wait until you hear this story!