Margie's wonderful life, now.

Well, just getting used to living in her own house again is fairly big at this point.
I spoke with Margie this morning and she told me about how here schedule would be now, what she has to spend her time doing and what the concerns are now.
Remember, it's not over till it's over?

This week so far she had an appointment with her Oncologist who now takes over her case since she's "dismissed", so to speak from the Hutch. The next day she had an appointment with her Physical therapist who thankfully is on the island.
Dr. Picozzi explained that right now and for the next 6 months to 9 months she is at her most critical. This means that her body is more vulnerable to infection and although Cathy's immune system is "in place", it is still battling within Margies' body and that's why the anti-rejection drugs, imunosuppressants, gvhd drugs, prednizone, etc.

From the first year anniversary post transplant to the 2nd year post transplant (next july 08 is one year post transplant)
that is when her vulnerability BEGINS to drop. So, you now are likely to understand my last post a wee bit better, as in Margie is so not out of the woods and we have to be as careful as ever. A lot of it for Margie is common sense: handwashing, staying away from groups of people and especially people that are in any way sick, were sick, going to be sick, thinking about going to be sick or just hung out with someone that was. You get the picture. She gets to go to the movies (she loves the movies) but only during off hours when there are like, 6 people there. She can't have a bunch of people in her house, invading her germ free environment. She and we must all be very careful, aware and thoughtful of her surrounds and exposure.

Ok, back to her routine:
Her appointment with her oncologist will be once a week as well as a once a week physical therapy. Besides that, her job is to get her body recovered from the hell it's been through and is still going through by doing 2 to 3 hours of physical therapy everyday, six days a week, including walking and using 2 pound weights on her ankles and wrists.
She can't go to the gym (we all know how moist and germy they are) Can't garden, touch trees and have any exposure to flora and fauna.

She'll be spending lots of time in her house, so she's busy writing a list of her daily routine (see above) as breakfast, p.t. and just stuff around the house is going to fill her day. She'll be able to spend time on the computer, something that she has wanted to do for a long time, read books, write, cook, and focus on her own health, what with the above as well as the condition that the last year has put her in, including but not limited to an onset of osteoperosis and neuropathy in her hands and feet/legs. During the last couple of months, another melanoma was found, so she'll have to undergo another surgery for that and I'm sure that's on her mind as it's not the best idea to let it go.

I hope I've given everyone some useful information as to what's happening now and although in the big picture she's an A student, she's still got a long, long way to go.

Love, Kathleen