First Follow-up Appt

Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to send a quick note to let everyone know the first follow-up appointment went well.  The process isn't much different than the appointments I did all last year.  I go into the hospital get my blood drawn and then wait for the results and to see the doctor.  The only difference is I will be spending a lot more time at the hospital over the next few months.  I have follow-up appointments with the doctor's twice a week for the forseeable future.  The main reason for this is so they can closely monitor me for signs of GVHD and alter my medications accordingly.  Also, the immunosuppressant drug I take has to have farily particular levels in my blood stream based on weight so they are monitoring that and adjusting those doses as well.  The only other thing is I get top ups of crucials chemicals my needs like magnesium.  The immunosuppressant burns magnesium off so I am always getting top ups on it, in addition to the pills I take at each meal.  The top up takes 2 hours for of the magnesium running through the IV so I will be getting lots of reading done :).  They can't run it any faster because magnesium is actually a hot metal and heats you up as it is put into your body. I have started reading Lance Armstrong's Its Not About the Bike again.  This book provided so much to me when I was a cancer patient and going through the intial diagnosis and coping stages with my disease.  I now want to see what insights it will offer on what many people regard as the toughest part of cancer, which is the survivorship and moving to the new you :)  I also plan to read over a couple of my other favorite books and I just picked up two books by the Dalai Lama.  So we shall see if I get any insights to pass along :)

A nice part of the clinic is I get to see some people that I had met over the year and moved on to transplant.  Tony my old roomate was there which was really nice to see.  He is 6 months post transplant.  We didn't get to have a super long conversation because he has a cough so I was a little wary of spending too much time with him, and I could tell he did not want to pass his couch to me.  It will be nice to see him and keep caught up with him.  One of my bigger regrets of last year was him and I lost touch as the year went by and we had become so close and helped each other so much in through induction.  Being in the same clinic will really help us keep in contact. There is a very fine balance to this recovery where you need to be completely inwardly focused almost selfishly focused on yourself, but at the same time you want to continue to lend support to those that you become close to through your treatments.  I am still learning the balance but pretty good at it I feel :)  I do know that the next 3-6 months are going to be pretty much all about me, because I want the best recovery with the least setbacks as possible and you can only do that when you focus on your own recovery.

All my blood counts were good and my GVHD has settled down a bit.  I don't mind the GVHD of the skin because it is just rash that doesn't bother me.  The downside is I am on steroids that weakens my muscles (I get the shakes sometimes) and I have to take my blood sugar twice a day.  I have been very diligent on my managing the sugars through diet so thankfully it has only been two finger pricks a day and no insulin.  The GVHD of the skin isn't a terrible thing because it lets me know those little blood cells are running around working. 

Well hope you are all having a good week.

Did you enjoy my post today? Save yourself time and have my all my new posts delivered directly to your email. Click Here to Subscribe to Aaron Outward by Email