More Time for the Toilette

"With my new lotions, potions and stocking I’m going to need to allow more time to get ready in the morning,” Jeff said.

It’s true.  Recent trips to the vein specialist and the dermatologist resulted in adding a couple of extra steps to his morning toilette. 

The vein specialist ordered a much longer compression stocking than the calf-high, seldom-worn one he already owns.  The new one is thigh-high (very sexy) and tends to fall down during the course of the day.  I recommended a garter belt although my own memories of that diabolical accoutrement are not favorable ones.  (Pantyhose had been invented by the time I was of age for stockings but my well-intentioned mother thought my first pair of stockings ought to be the old-fashioned variety.  Garter belt + mini-skirt = uncomfortable!)

The dermatologist ordered a topical chemotherapy to take care of several pre-cancerous spots on Jeff’s face.  One spot was biopsied.  Dr. Samimi recommended doing this month-long treatment now to avoid having the burning sensation made worse by hot weather.  It is impossible to know whether these spots are the result of his radiation treatments although skin cancer was one of the many side effects of BMT pre-conditioning he was warned about prior to giving consent.  We tend to think that radiation sped up conditions that might have occurred anyway. 

After one week of treatment, Jeff’s face has undergone texture and color changes with the current expression being the appearance of more red spots than he began with.  Rosie often rests her little hand on her grandpop’s cheek, earlobe or neck as if it were a security blanket.  Jeff will have to be careful to keep her from touching his face when the ointment is freshly applied (within an hour or two of application according to Dr. Samimi).  We have a couple of swab events coming up.  It would be nice, but not essential, if Jeff looked his healthy-best when encouraging young folks to join the bone marrow registry.

Our Gilda’s Club blood cancer support group hadn’t met for a couple of months due to snow.  It was really good to meet this week and hear that Diane is in remission, Lincoln’s counts are perfect, Steve got proton therapy and is still smiling and marveling at his survival, and Michael gave his Multiple Myeloma Journey Partner talk in San Diego and has been invited to speak at events in Chicago and Dallas this spring.  This group laughs a lot and also shares the scary bits, the uncertainties associated with living with blood cancer.  We’re so glad we found Gilda’s Club and this group. 

Jeff mentioned that a few of his docs are scheduling follow-up visits in September.  I suggested he make it a point to schedule other visits in September, too, in the hopes of having a month or two without any doctor visits.  This is a strategy we hadn’t thought of before but might help to avoid what Dr. Samimi referred to as “Doctor Fatigue.”  We’ll see how that works.