Month 7 Plus: Another Interesting Month

 And we thought last month was interesting. Ha!

All is good here in post-SCT land. We are now just past 7 months post transplant and everything seems to be going well, but it's been an eventful month in the family. We'll get to that, but first the health update.  My white cell counts have returned to normal as mysteriously as they had dropped. Do we know why? Nope. Are we concerned? Nah.  The rest of the bloodwork looked good, too, including the results of my Epstein Barr Virus test. We paid particular attention to that test this time around, he said, foreshadowing.

I continue to slowly taper off my two anti-rejection drugs (both the general one - tacrolimus; and the more targeted anti-GVHD drug that I was taking to address mild GVHD in my gut.) So that's good because less drugs are always better. And since the anti-rejection drugs are immuno-suppresant, less drugs are definitely better. It also means that I have been cleared to have the occasional beer or glass of wine. 

I'm also only seeing my NP or MD every four weeks, give or take and so that's good, too. 

And I was able to get both the Covid and Flu vaccine this year!  Of course, I got the Covid booster two weeks after Stacy and Matt got Covid, but fortunately through a lot of isolation, precautions, and a week by myself at a hotel, I managed to avoid Covid while the family recovered.  

So in general, except for the need to avoid crowds (particularly indoors), certain foods (soft cheeses, cold cuts, sushi, soft serve ice cream among them), and things that kick up dust and other particles (mowing the lawn, blowing leaves, vacuuming, etc.) life is returning to a mostly normal kind of pace. Even work, which was wildly busy for about eight weeks has returned to a normal busy kind of pace. 

Sunset on Sabattus Pond

That's why I'm able to write this from our temporary home away from home, up on Sabattus Pond  in Maine, where Stacy and I were finally able to go for a short getaway. We were supposed to be up here about three weeks ago, but instead Stacy was down with Noah at Lehigh, while he enjoyed a three-day stay at the local hospital. 

The diagnosis that finally came back was a severe case of mono (thus the relief of my negative Epstein Barr Virus test) complete with enlarged spleen and liver. The diagnosis was a huge relief. After the year and half of my health experiences, just the idea of my youngest headed to the ER was enough to crank up the PTSD meter.  Throw in a hematologist and oncologist consult, and it was a stressful few days, to say the least.

He had a rough go of it for a couple weeks, but Stacy was able to help him get back on his feet, and now he's pretty much back to his normal self.

And I'm happy to say, day by day, month by month, I'm getting there, too.

--Michael