Hello everyone! This blog post is pathetically past due! I have a reason, but it's not an excuse (at least not a good one). Any one still following this blog may remember that in the course of the last few years I've started and stopped exercise and diet programs several times. Well last fall I began another one, and since I've had a history of NOT being successful in this area, I didn't want to talk about it until I had passed a certain stage. As those of you who have seen my recent facebook page know, I passed the one-year anniversary and am still going strong, so I figured it's time to update this blog.
Before I get to that I want to give a very short update on the stem-cell transplant progress. So far all is looking good. While I still tend to have some issues that have held over since before the transplant with a bit of neuropathy (nerve issues in my feet) and vertigo (I have some balance issues that have never completely cleared up), generally I haven't had any obvious systems of being out of remission. My oncologist, who I just saw last month, also thinks things are looking good. This month - in fact today! - is the five-year anniversary of my transplant.
The transplant and everything that followed is chronicled in detail on this blog if you're interested in particular areas, but here's a short summary:
On Oct. 2nd, 2010, I went into the hospital in Tucson. After 8 days of intense chemo my immune system was pronounced dead for all intents and purposes. On the 10th of October, after one day off to ensure that all my blood numbers were dropping dramatically, my transplant took place. It took another 2 weeks for my numbers to start crawling up toward the safe zone. During this time a transplant patient is particularly susceptible to massive organ failure, extreme infection that can't be fought off, and cuts or injuries that could result in massive bleeding. I managed to get through the two weeks without those things occurring, although I was in intensive care for 24 hours when my blood pressure began falling to very low levels. It's easy to treat high blood pressure, but very difficult to treat low blood pressure. But after 24 hours it started to rise again, and they sent me back to my quarantined wing. My blood numbers continued to rise, and on October 25th I was released from the hospital.
Two months later I was beginning to feel more like myself, although my taste buds were really messed up (everything tasted like chemicals), and I had a terrible case of chronic dry mouth due to all the post-transplant medicine prescribed, and additionally was very weak with really bad balance problems/vertigo. I spent most of that time in a reclining chair - I just didn't have any energy. A year after the transplant I realized how much better I was actually beginning to feel, compared to the two-month mark, even though I was still very low energy, weak and out of shape. That's when I started to realize that I needed to get into shape, just in case I beat the odds and the transplant really turned out to be successful.
Okay, so the way the medical community talks about bone marrow and stem-cell transplant patients is this: After two years post-transplant we start whispering of a cure, and after five-years post-transplant we begin to feel cautiously optimistic. Since I'm at the 5-year mark and doing well, we're now cautiously optimistic. I haven't had my 5-year tests, though, and my oncologist decided this will be just a CT scan in February. She doesn't want to expose me to any more extreme radiation and chemicals if she can help it, so no PET scan this time. Admittedly the PET scan is far more accurate in displaying cancerous hot spots, but unless I exhibit symptoms, she's going to avoid that for now. So February is my official sign-off on year 5.
Now the weight loss update deserves it's own post, and I'll also be putting it in it's own section, so you can dig into the stem-cell transplant or weight-loss sections as you like. That post and a bit of a reorganized blog will follow. I also want to tell those that still follow this pathetically over-due blog, that I may be shifting some or all of the content to my own website on GoDaddy. However since I've owned that site for a while, but haven't developed it yet, I'm not sure when I'll be ready to transition there, in part or in full or at all. I'll make sure and post a note about that if I do, and share it on facebook as always.
Okay, onto the next post, which will follow shortly.
