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October 30, 2007 , Day 378


Friends,

Good day to you all! We are all starting to recover from our difficult week last week. This morning was the first morning when I left the house and didn't smell the bitter tang of smoke in the air. Controversy rages on the airwaves now about what went wrong during the firefight. Most of the fires have been contained and they are expected to control most of them by next week. Whenever you meet someone for the first time since last week, the first question is always "is your house OK?" I guess we all want to catalog who we know that lost a home, or something. So far, I don't know anyone who did, amazingly. Most people have been allowed to return home, and most roads are open now.

For Menchie and I, our lives have entered a new transition stage. Menchie has been working full time for two weeks, and we are learning how to deal with that again, as far as cooking, scheduling meals and just getting along without each other. We are trying to walk a lot. We are training the dog to walk with us. We are also training me. I need to get better at walking. I start working full time on Thursday. That is kind of exciting, but mostly scary. I kind of like not working full time, but I don't think I could convince anyone I needed to work less because I am ill. I am not that ill any more. Still weak, and still having lots of GVHD and other issues, but not that bad.

My Peak Performance program starts next week, but I will miss the entire first week of the program. I will be traveling for business to Yuma, Arizona. I am looking forward to visiting Yuma, and I am also really looking forward to starting the Peak Performance program. This is another fund raising program, so I will be asking for your help again in helping to find a cure for Leukemia, Lymphoma, and Melanoma. We also will be traveling to Colorado in less than 2 weeks for my nephew's wedding. We are really looking forward to that, and to seeing our family again. It will really be different having everyone in one place. We haven't done that in many years.

Sunday was my second 4th birthday. We went out to a nice restaurant and had a wonderful dinner to celebrate both of my recent birthdays.

On the medical front, some progress! The doctor said I could eliminate the Nystatin if I want (I DO) and reduce my Cyclosporine by one pill per day. He will be looking for any impact on my Graft vs Host Disease (GVHD). My tongue is still slowly improving, but GVHD is spreading all over my legs. It is not painful or irritating in any way really. It is just like round scales of skin, sort of a reptilian effect. Maybe I am turning into a snake. Menchie wouldn't like me then. Anyway, I consider the GVHD a positive sign, as long as it doesn't cause any serious problems. GVHD is a sign that my transplant is probably having a similar effect on any stem cells that may have been left over from me. This is know as Graft vs Leukemia (GVL) in my case. This is a much desired effect, and can keep me from relapsing. Hopefully reducing the Cyclosporine will start reducing my drug induced hypertension, and stop the advance of the peripheral neuropathy that is getting pretty serious. I was worried about going into a walking program with the peripheral neuropathy. Numbness of the feet can cause a walker to ignore developing sores on the bottoms of the feet which can be very dangerous. I talked to my doctor about that today, and he just said it would probably be OK, and to just be careful. We will inspect my feet for any problems on a regular basis and take necessary actions to avoid serious injury.

Lab results from my last appointment. Everything is creeping up nicely. Hopefully that will continue:

Lab Results

Blood Cell Type

Normal Low

08/28

09/06

09/11

09/26

10/30

WBC 4.5 5.0 9.8 5.2 4.4 5.0
RBC 4.3 2.76 2.81 2.72 2.54 2.70
HGB 13.9 11.3 11.4 11.1 10.6 11.4
PLT 130 77 63 67 75 87


Life is good!
Ted and Menchie
tw@wilcoxent.com
mench@wilcoxent.com
www.wilcoxent.com

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