En Garde!

Jeff is sandwiched by two donors: Nick Hudson, Gift of Life, and fencing coach Marshal Davis, Swarthmore College.

Jeff and I were happy to man the Gift of Life swab station at the National Collegiate Fencing Tournament hosted by the Swarthmore College fencing team (Coach Marshal Davis donated stem cells to 5-year-old Jacob) and held at Bensalem High School (where Jeff and I met).  We saw some old friends from youngest son Keith’s fencing days.  It was fun to see the athletes in their whites and crazy socks and hear the clashing of blades and the beeping of the scoring machines once again.  

The condition of Jeff’s face, healing from the topical chemotherapy but flaring red and, in spots, crusty with scabs, started a few conversations about skin cancer.  One spectator was a 30-year survivor of a skin cancer that had metastasized to some of his lymph nodes (which were removed).  An event photographer shared pictures of her Moh’s “nose job” in all gory detail and shared her amazement in the remarkable healing that took place afterwards.  A Gift of Life volunteer told Jeff that her father made a burka so that he could attend her outdoor sporting events without risky sun exposure.

Each day Jeff’s face looks a little better - until he exerts or sweats.  Then his spots get angry-looking and his scabs turn yellow.  It will be interesting to see how quickly he heals now that he is finished with the chemo lotion.  In a couple of weeks he’ll have had his Moh’s surgery and then, hopefully, his skin issues will settle down for a while. 

Next on the doc agenda is a CT uragram ordered by the urologist.  When I called to schedule the appointment, I was asked whether Jeff is allergic to dyes.  I never know quite how to answer questions about his young immune system.  “Well,” I said, “as far as we know he is not allergic to dyes.  If it is really important, I can ask his bone marrow donor whether she is allergic.”  And so I did.  However, the question and the reason for the test caused Nicole some concern.  We believe it is a just-in-case, age-appropriate test to check on some issues he is having.  We don’t expect anything dire to be revealed.  I wish I hadn’t made Nicole nervous.  She is so sweet to worry and very kind to get her prayer team on the job. 

 

Jeff sometimes suffers from “doctor fatigue” but I think his skin cancer made him realize that he needs all his docs and that he must be vigilant.  En garde!