Its been a while since I updated everyone. I am now a little more than a week past the
milestone mark of Day +100 and still feeling well. I talked to Dr. Nash last week about the transition
back to my primary oncologist and he felt that I was doing well enough for
this, so my first appointment back with Dr. Liel at the Kaiser
Oncology/Hematology department will be next Tuesday. I will continue to see Dr. Nash over at the
Colorado Blood Cancer Institute every month or so just for continued follow up
and both he and Dr. Liel will be in contact about my progress over the next few
months.
My blood counts continue to improve. Most markedly, my liver functioning appears
to be almost back to normal (woo hoo).
My platelets are very steady at about 250 and this is something that the
clinic is very glad to see. My white
blood cell count continues to bounce up and down for no identifiable
reason. I range anywhere from 2.3 to 4.9
(with normal limits being about 4.5-11.0)…so I have a ways to go on that
one. My red blood cell numbers continue
to creep up ever so slowly (RBCs are the slowest to recover after transplant is
what I have learned). Dr. Nash told me
to expect my RBC counts to be low for several more months (probably till the
6-9 month mark). Still no results from
my bone density scan that I had a while ago.
I have another clinic appointment on Friday, and they expect to have the
results when I see them at the end of the week.
On Monday I picked up my retainers from my dentist so that I can keep my
teeth from shifting anymore than they already have. I feel like a teenager again at night when I
put them in before bed (major flashbacks to all the orthodontic work I had done
years ago)!
I am searching for a local yoga class for cancer survivors
(Dr. Gregory at the clinic highly recommended it) but the one I found here in
Aurora is dismantling because the yoga instructor is a teacher and she is going
back to school. I’m gonna keep looking
around town. Never done yoga before, but
being more flexible never hurt anyone and the idea of being able to try it in a
class of other cancer survivors who are at all places in their journeys sounds
very inspiring!
I have had the opportunity to reconnect with several friends
over the past week or so. We’ve gone for
walks together, painted pottery together, and chatted while I stopped by their
offices to drop off cookies. This Friday
I get to have lunch (at a non-busy time) with a dear friend who I have missed
seeing so much over these past 6 months.
We used to go get lunch and pedicures often but that was all brought to
a screeching halt when I was diagnosed because I wasn't able to eat out and
definitely couldn't go to get a pedicure (Dr. Nash literally cringed when I
asked him about getting a pedicure and said no way) lol. Nonetheless, it is SO fun to get to see
friends in person again. Text, email,
phone and greeting cards were wonderful to keep us connected over the past few
months but nothing compares to spending quality time with friends and loved
ones!
I am gearing up for the Light the Night walk in September
here in Denver at Washington Park. This
is a fundraiser for the local Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (Rocky Mtn.
Chapter) and want to invite anyone who is local (or far away & wants to
come visit and join us) to walk with us on Thursday September 26th. I’ve created a walking team and will include
all the info about how to register to walk with us & the link for
fundraising for anyone who would like to contribute in my update this weekend. I should also have the results of my bone
density scan so I can share those as well J
-Chellie
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