Minus a Pill, Plus a Pill and the Loss of a Friend

Jeff and I attended a blood cancer survivorship conference last month.  Dr. Porter was one of the keynote speakers.  He related the early successes he is seeing with his immunotherapy for blood cancers.  Really hopeful stuff!   At the conference we learned that neuropathy and fatigue are very common problems post-BMT. We learned that there are treatments for neuropathy that some patients find helpful.  It really hit me how problematic it is for Jeff when he admitted that he has slipped on our stairs because the bottoms of his feet are numb and, most especially, when he said he was willing to try acupuncture, “as long as they don’t put needles in my feet.”  It was helpful to hear the professionals and other patients discuss long-term survivorship issues.  Questions for Dr. Porter began forming in our minds.  Maybe there is something that can help Jeff with the neuropathy in his feet, arms and back.  He has a new area in his jaw that is a little annoying, too.  Dr. Porter has said that sometimes it goes away with time.  Patients, though, tell us differently.

The weekend following Thanksgiving, Jeff drove to North Carolina for Keith’s graduation from Marine Combat Training.  This time, however, Keith was whisked away immediately following the ceremony and sent to Oklahoma for his next training course.    I was concerned that Jeff would have a lot of travel fatigue since he had no company for the drive going or coming.  He made out just fine although he sounded pretty tired when he called me at the end of those travel days. 

Jeff saw Drs. Porter and Rager last week and got an excellent report on his blood work.  He went armed with a list of questions.  He asked whether he ought to be immunized for shingles (those darn commercials remind you how miserable shingles can be).  The answer was, “no,” not while he is still immuno-suppressed.  The immunization probably wouldn’t do any good.  However, Jeff can start weaning off of the Cellcept.  He is to drop one pill each month (that’s minus one for now).  That would mean he would be off of it entirely by March, if all goes well. 

Jeff asked about acupuncture and massage (which has helped a little in the past) for neuropathy.  Dr. Porter prescribed Neurontin (that’s plus one) but did not think he needed to see the neurologist again.  He should take one pill at night to see whether that is all he needs.  He can have up to three a day but it may make him dizzy.  This drug was really helpful when he was on it before so maybe he will have luck with it again. 

Yesterday we had sad news from our friend, Marie.  You might remember that we’d met Marie and her husband, Jeff R., when the two Jeffs were being treated on Rhoads 7 at Penn.  Marie emailed to say that her Jeff was hanging a wreath over his garage door last week when he fell and hit his head on a stone wall.  He died from his injuries yesterday morning.  Oh, how very sad!  His enthusiasm for life was contagious.  We cannot believe he is gone.  My Jeff says he is glad that Jeff R. did not die in bed wracked by disease.  He was doing the things he enjoyed doing.  Prayers for Marie, if you would be so kind.