Wow, time flies when you are having fun! Well, fun may not be the most accurate of description's, but we have had some nice updates on the health front over the past week or so to share. And yes, plenty of poop discussion has taken place, but I think we can leave it out of this blog posting if for no other reason than the output is in line with where the team wants it and we can focus on the other pains (the ulcer issue), food intake, diet, and prepping of heading home. Yes, I said it, the prep of heading home this week!
As somewhat described here over the past few weeks, the treatment for the GVHD, pain, etc... has been to purge and rest the body, while evaluating what take place with the addition/subtraction of different foods and drugs and how my body reacted. Many of the days were much tougher than others and while I tried to impart some of those thoughts, it became frustrating to relay "nothing to report" when, in fact, the report was "we'll see how tomorrow goes."
Somewhere in the past couple weeks, my latest Dr. performing rounds, Dr. Abidi, moved my treatment in the direction of trying to get me out of here. Its subtle, but they start to remove some of the drugs altogether, ones that may not be needed at home (where there are LESS germs) and all of the others get turned over to pill form so they can be administered at home.
The other major change is my diet. Over the past 90 days, my diet and stomach are having a contest to see which can be smaller. I haven't weighed in this low since early high school. The remedy for getting the diet back in line is to add different foods slowly, one at a time (seems like everything is one at a time) and keep that progressing. Rightfully so, I was hammered by all parties for trying too much hard candy, my stomach just doesn't handle sugars very well right now. Dr. Abidi is as concerned about the ulcers in my duodenum which will take 10-12 weeks to heal as he is about any GVHD at this point. Along with the stability of my blood levels over the past few weeks, being able to tolerate the pills, no serious problem with foods at this point, it looks like I will be headed home this week and we will really get to test the care giving skills of Lynn. (And that means many more humorous stories...)
Good timing this Sunday morning as Dr. Abidi just stopped by to provide the daily update. All is very favorable for release this week and I am going to shoot for Tues/Wed (What the hell, time to make a prediction here or there, right?).
I will be getting a unit of hemoglobin this afternoon as it has dipped below the magic 8.0 level. Could explain why I have been getting a little tired easier lately. So, at least I have that to look forward to this afternoon as I watch the golf... crazy, I missed a whole winter... bad benefit, but at least I am coming out of the hospital with spring training in full force, the PGA Tour headed to Florida (where the real tourneys start), and March Madness right on our heels (will UM ever be good at any sport again? ... oops).
Thanks again for all the support... catch you around town... soon.
