Update March 14

This past week, the Bone Marrow Transplant Team felt I was doing so well, they released me to go back home to continue my recovery there. So now I am recuperating from both transplants in Wenatchee. I am in good spirits, but still physically weak and my immune system is still very weak. The doctors say my immune system will be weak for at least a year but the first 100 days (mid-May) is the most crucial period to watch carefully. And after that I need to be careful until I can get all my childhood shots, scheduled for February 2011. So for the next 11 months we will be careful where we go and what we do. I have been told no yard work for a year and to be careful with activities. I have an appointment with my oncologist back in Seattle next week. The following week, I see my cardiologist at the UW Hospital. So while I am back home, I will likely be making a weekly trip to Seattle to get a check up at either facility. During my last visit at the UW Hospital, one of the cardiologists reminded me that I am their first patient that has been through this procedure, that to clear up my bone marrow disease of Cardiac Amyloidosis, I needed to have a heart transplant first. (Rose asked me if I felt special being the first. I feel fortunate that medicine is at this point, but I would have rather been first at something else.)

During my recovery, I am trying to keep my mind occupied. I am reading Andre Agassi’s book, “Open.” I have never played tennis, but the book is great. I have pulled out my water colors and tried to get some painting done. Rose and I drove to Fisherman’s Terminal in Seattle and found the “Joker.” This old wooden gillnetter has seen better days. I put our taxes together. And I am excited about continuing work with my family history. So I am feeling better to where I am being able to use my mind again.

It is good to be home!