I suppose it's time for an update to this blog since my last post was two months ago although most folks following this blog are probably my Facebook 'friends' too so you've kept up pretty much on a daily basis via Facebook. But for those of you that do not do the Facebook thing, this is for you.
It's now been six months since Ray had his bone marrow transplant. Life does indeed seem to be getting somewhat back to normal. It's a new 'normal' but we'll take it!
There seems to always be some little something or other to concern us a bit when it comes to his well being but fortunately we've always been able to work through it. For instance, about a month ago he decided he was going to help me disassemble something in the shed. The screwdriver he was using was rusted at its tip & he slipped causing it to slice his hand. He quickly washed the small puncture & applied antibiotic ointment & bandage. It healed quickly without any redness but two mornings later he awoke claiming his jaw hurt! My frantic internet search told me that the 1st sign of tetanus is lockjaw so off to the hospital we went. We spent most of that day there as the doctors conferred with each other to decide how to approach it. The concern was that all his previous immunizations were destroyed to make way for the new donor cells & he hadn't yet been re-vaccinated for tetanus. To make a long story short, they gave him his tetanus shot a month early & he did NOT have lockjaw!
A few other minor things include a skin rash all over his body that they treated with mega steroids, that he is just now finally being weaned off of. His hemoglobin drops & he occasionally needs boosted back up with some units of blood. His legs have been giving him problems on & off by cramping up when he walks so he's seeing a vascular surgeon in hopes of getting to the root cause & fix it. Next week he has a appointment with an eye specialist because one of his eyes is now bothering him. Apparently these are all common problems after a transplant. Nothing seems to surprise the doctors when we report new issues & they're ready to act upon them.
Ray is scheduled for another pulmonary function test & his 6 month bone marrow biopsy next week. That will be his 7th biopsy. The past couple of days he's developed a small cough but no fever. If it gets any worse we'll return to the hospital early for them to evaluate it & treat accordingly.
We were able to drive home to Indiana for a two week visit recently. It was wonderful! We were excited to be able to attend several of our grand-kids events while there (birthday party, cheer fest, soccer game, wrestling practice, etc.). Also attended a neighbor's wedding & saw LOTS of folks. We had several visitors stop by while home. Ray even got in a couple of nights of Pinochle card games with his best friend, our son & his friends dad. We met a close cousin of Rays (& her family) along with an aunt for supper one night. And another afternoon we met a few more cousins in Columbus, OH for supper together. We kept very busy & that's putting it mildly!
While home, we were able to bring Ray's dad home from his nursing home for the day on two occasions to spend some time with us. We also visited him twice at the nursing home. We brought Ray's brother Randy back with us to Florida for the winter. This has been his winter home in this park for over 30 years now. He's thrilled to be back here with us.
On our return trip to Florida, we had a wonderful visit with some of my relatives near Knoxville, TN where we spent the night at a close cousin of mine's home. Now that we are back at the park, things are getting more active here. Many of our snowbird friends have already returned & more are coming. It was good to return here because after seeing SNOW while home in Indiana, we knew we wanted to quickly return to a sunny warm place for the winter.
So now you have it - how we're doing now. We look forward to a calm but fun-filled winter. No doubt we still must take certain precautions to keep Ray well as he continues the journey but some restrictions have been loosened. He remains on immune-suppressant meds so we must still be very careful to avoid his getting sick. One hard thing will be keeping him out of the sun but we'll do our best. And when he asked the doctor if he could drink beer yet, he didn't like the doctor's reply. I don't need to tell you what that reply was! ;-)
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