January 21- too long between

Yes, too long between blogs. Three weeks. I talked to the creator of this blog Kathleen, this morning and she told me to get on it- what was the matter, didn't I have anything to say? I said sorta. So she rattled off a list of topics- Last Dr. appt, what we do when were over there, my next bx date [biopsy], my exercise program, what moveis I'm watching, whats Dad doing.



It sure is nice to have someone in your life that can shake rattle and roll you.



First I'll say I am feeling good. I continue to show no symptoms of either the Leukemia or the transplant side effects of host versus graft disease which I had a mild case of in the gut but so far the symptoms of that, vomiting has not returned after being off the prednisone now for over a month. That was my hope and goal. It was a month Jan.14.



Last Dr. appt.---We both gussie up for these every two week appt.- it's the only place we go! we take the 11:30 ferry as we live on an island, drive up the steep hills to the oncologists office, I have numerous blood samples drawn from my permanent hickman catheter in my chest and we wait for the results and see Dr. P who has been my Dr. from the beginning, I like him very much, he likes to laugh and joke around a lot. When he asked me what I was doing with my time I told him "STAYING ALIVE!", he said, YOU MEAN LIKE THE BEE GEES?" I said, YES!!!



what we do while we are over there: The hospital where the Dr. is located has a well appointed hotel in the same building open to the public or patients. The hotel has a very nice restaurant where you don't feel your in a medical setting at all. We always have a late lunch there after the appt. The food is good. You might wonder in the middle of a city why don't they try other places? Difficulty parking, hills, not a lot of energy left to do what we would normally do. It's quiet and relaxing we can hang out there as long as we want then drive down the hill and get the 4:40 ferry, home before 6'00.



My next bone marrow bx: I was notified by phone and letter that a bx is called for in my protocol at 180 days after transplant. It's in the works but I don't have a date yet. I wanted to have the conscious sedation I had at the center 4 other times but I've been discharged from there and she said the workup is too time consuming. But I could have what they call the lollipop- Fentenal-I had that once and didn't feel much pain so I said I'll take that. Your more groggy after the lollipop than the conscious sedation. That will be at the end of Jan.



Exercise- must do more, did walk 30 min today at 30 degrees.



Movies: "Marty" Ernest Borgnine, best actor, best picture 1957 and "Born Yesterday" 40's comedy with Broderick Crawford and Judy Holiday, a comedian in her own right.



What's Dad doing? Dad says he's pushing pills-my pills 12 in the morning and 10 at night in between he continues to paint and floor our room over the garage, putting up a handrail this week waiting for varnish to dry in the cold. He also said to add that he is cleaning up our two onehalf acres that has been neglected for almost two years since my diagnosis. He also does laundry, washes all the dishes, changes the sheets on the bed, does a good part of the cooking, groceries, plus the garbage/out door business. He also reads a lot of novels from the library and is reading stuff to better understand how his digital camera works.



Ok, how did I do, I know I did fine, like so many other things it's just getting started.



Love to all. Margie