It has been quite a while since I posted, but very little has changed. This part of the healing process is like slogging through hip-deep mud in the fog. I have a hard time to tell that I am getting better unless I compare it with last month, when I was metaphorically slogging through chest-deep mud in the fog. But things have been steadily improving. I have a little more energy, a little less fatigue, a little less pain, and a little less nausea.
I was hoping that my blood tests would be stable, and we would start having to go to the hospital every other week, instead of weekly, but last Thursday we had a slight hitch. It was found that I have some graft/host disease primarily in the liver. This is not necessarily a bad thing. The doctor was hoping that I would have a mild case at some point, as it lowers my chance of having a relapse of lymphoma in the future.
There are a couple of ways that graft/host disease can manifest - in the liver, in the skin, and in the GI track are the most common. Of them, the liver is the one that takes the longest to get over, but it tends not to have any side effects if it is kept under control. He upped my immune suppressants slightly, and put me on steroids to contain the problem. It should correct itself in about two months.
I have been feeling pretty isolated. Because I am on immune suppressants, I can not go out in public, and I don't have many friends here. Other than Becky, and the people at the hospital, I see someone else less than once a week. However, if my bloodwork this week show that the graft/host is stable, then there will be no real worries, and we will go to meeting every two weeks instead of every week, which will allow Becky and I to move back to Maine. At the very least, because we will be moving in with my Mom, that will double the number of people that I see on a regular basis, and it will also make it pretty easy to pop up to Belfast for a weekend. So I am really looking forward to that.
Leif
I was hoping that my blood tests would be stable, and we would start having to go to the hospital every other week, instead of weekly, but last Thursday we had a slight hitch. It was found that I have some graft/host disease primarily in the liver. This is not necessarily a bad thing. The doctor was hoping that I would have a mild case at some point, as it lowers my chance of having a relapse of lymphoma in the future.
There are a couple of ways that graft/host disease can manifest - in the liver, in the skin, and in the GI track are the most common. Of them, the liver is the one that takes the longest to get over, but it tends not to have any side effects if it is kept under control. He upped my immune suppressants slightly, and put me on steroids to contain the problem. It should correct itself in about two months.
I have been feeling pretty isolated. Because I am on immune suppressants, I can not go out in public, and I don't have many friends here. Other than Becky, and the people at the hospital, I see someone else less than once a week. However, if my bloodwork this week show that the graft/host is stable, then there will be no real worries, and we will go to meeting every two weeks instead of every week, which will allow Becky and I to move back to Maine. At the very least, because we will be moving in with my Mom, that will double the number of people that I see on a regular basis, and it will also make it pretty easy to pop up to Belfast for a weekend. So I am really looking forward to that.
Leif
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