8-year Survivorship Anniversary

May is a big birthday month for our family.  Two of our children and two of our grandchildren celebrate birthdays in May.  And this year Jeff celebrated the 8th year anniversary of his bone marrow transplant.  He thanks Nicole for 8-Year Survivorship Anniversary.  We continue to be grateful and while we (or maybe, just I) may seem to focus on Jeff’s care, we do not think about recurrence.  Eight years and counting…

Jeff has accepted that his weekdays must be planned around doctor visits.  I have not heard complaints about these interruptions in a while.  It’s his job to take care of himself.  And sometimes he works, too.

To deal with Jeff's swallowing issues, his endocrinologist stretched his esophagus, and ordered a repeat endoscopy in six weeks.  It seems to have helped.  Jeff says he can eat even faster now!  Ha.

The kidney specialist reports Jeff's uric acid and creatinine are a little high.  His kidney function is at 61% while 70% is age-appropriate.  Below 60% would require further treatment.  Jeff was very disappointed to hear this but Dr. Pat said, "You've been through a lot.  So 61% is good, considering."  His medication drags his blood pressure pretty low at times, 90/60 last night.  Dr. Pat would prefer it in the area of 120/ but that is seldom achieved.   

As we enter summertime, I am concerned about the difficulty Jeff has in drinking enough water to protect his kidneys.  When he talks about taking on outside jobs, I wish he wouldn't.   I'd rather he works inside, in air conditioning, with minimal ladder work, on easy jobs that don't require a lot of heavy-lifting.  Jeff sees it differently, of course.  Summer is the time to be outside.

I decided, with Jeff's nudging, to address my ongoing Caregiver Syndrome.  I've delayed mammogram, colonoscopy, eye exam, blood labs for primary care doc, even the dentist.  I made appointments to take care of all of these things and it's a good thing I did.  The ophthalmologist found I had a retinal issue and referred me to a specialist who diagnosed BRVO which would cause vision impairment if not treated.

I recently spoke to a friend who is scared of doctors.  I told him that, at the time of Jeff's diagnosis of MDS, my brother asked what he could do.  Jeff's response was, "Go get a physical."  Good advice.  Job one: take care of yourself.

We attended the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Man/Woman of the Year Gala to support our friend, Michael's campaign.  Michael took home the Mission Award.  This was well-deserved because Michael, Monique and their family are relentless in promoting the mission of L&LS.  We are proud to know them and pray Michael achieves his goal of living long enough to see a cure for Multiple Myeloma.