Leaving Bits Behind

It was date night like the old days – a walk around Neshaminy Mall (the mall of our youth with Jeff narrating a fascinating what-used-to-be-there tour), then movie and dinner.  The theatre lost power twice during during the movie which was reminiscent of the film reel problems of yesteryear.  The Tex-Mex restaurant just outside the mall had not yet been built when we dated in the 1970s but this did not spoil the romance in any way.  Something else did. 

Jeff felt something hard in his burrito.  He turned the thing over and around with his tongue then dropped it onto his napkin with a groan.  It was a piece of tooth.  Jeff said he was leaving a part of himself “On the Border."

And so, another trip to the dentist (he was just there three months ago).  Chemo and radiation are hard on teeth and gums and so, I suppose, is growing older.  Monday morning Dr. Snead capped the tooth and gave Jeff the bad news that the tooth next to it is cracked, too.  He’ll go back in August. 

Teeth and eyes.  While walking the mall, Jeff commented that the place was foggy.  It wasn’t.  Those cataracts may need tending sooner rather than later.  Geez.

Dr. Porter ordered blood work at six weeks after stopping the immunosuppressant and, as happens every time this is attempted, the tests showed a change in his liver function indicating GVHD.  So he is back on Mycophenolate.  Jeff tolerates the drug better than most people and he insists he doesn’t have a problem with taking it indefinitely – for the rest of his life, if necessary, since it performs a vital function. 

We stayed home from church on Sunday so Jeff could collect his urine – for 24 hours!  Dr. Pathalapati wanted more information than the simple urinalysis provides so Jeff was instructed to pee into a jug from the second pee of Sunday morning through the first pee of Monday morning.  At lunchtime he was doubtful that he’d fill the jug.  By mid-afternoon he worried that the jug wasn’t large enough.  I sterilized a mason jar just in case.  He channeled Jim Croce and sang, “If I could save pee in a bottle…”  He watched TV and napped as if this was a trying ordeal.  Monday morning he finished the collection.  He’d filled the jug with only 1ml to spare!

The results of this and other blood and urine tests were posted online by Monday afternoon.  I told Jeff that his blood tests, including liver function, looked pretty good.  These are numbers I am used to seeing.  Kidney function tests are unfamiliar to me. Some of the tests had xxx’s where there should have been values (Why?).  Protein was high, of course.  This was the reason for the test.  But how high is too high?  We will have to wait for Dr. Pat’s interpretation later this month. 

More firsts together:  Yoga, Biergarten.  

More firsts for Jeff:  tried Sunbutter (sunflower seed spread) and yogurt.