I dictated this to Google. And I’m too lazy at the moment to do much in the way of editing, so please forgive any errata.
I know it’s been some time since I’ve offered up a real update on what’s going on with my health. Part of that is because I’ve enjoyed an 18 month run of being practically cancer free since my transplant. And I’ve been trying to get back to a normal daily routine. Pretty successfully, I might add. 🙂
Well, on one of my recent check ups a few months ago we determined that the protein levels were going up and we needed to watch for a reoccurrence. The very next month, a protein level spiked, so it was confirmed I was no longer in remission. 🙁
So we’re back to the old routine, making frequent trips to receive chemotherapy and watching my white blood cell count because it’s been very low with the medication, which of course means I have to wear a mask if I go out in public and I’m exposed to people who might be sick. Fun, fun, fun.
So that’s really for now, the only thing that’s really changed in going from remission to relapse – more trips to the VA in Milwaukee, Chemotherapy resumption, more poking, prodding and testing, and overall more time doing cancer stuff and less time doing Ken stuff.
For some of my appointments I get to ride in the DAV van, which is good because then I don’t have to drive. The drawback is that I have to wait for everyone else to come back from their appointment before we head home, so sometimes that means we are there all day. All. Day.
This guy was in the oncology waiting room – and it was obvious by his phone call that he was pretty new to this cancer stuff. I gave him my contact info and told him he could contact me anytime that he wanted to talk or just had questions. That’s one of the cool things about the waiting room, you can learn a lot and meet interesting people.
So, while the cancer is back I’m still able to carry-on and do work and be productive and just about anything else I want to, more or less. The biggest thing I’m dealing with now is the steroids. Taken in conjunction with the chemotherapy, they kinda have a tendency to screw up my sleep patterns. So you might see an email for me at 2:30 in the morning and that won’t be unusual.
Bottom line, all is well. God is good. I am blessed.
Remind me to tell you about clinical trials on the next update…
