Health Report July 13

I have started my second cycle of chemotherapy, Velcade (I call it chemo-lite). We are having the infusions done here in Wenatchee, saving us five hours of a round trip drive to Seattle. This was the first time I was experiencing some side effects from the medication. I needed a dose of Benadryl because I was starting to get cold and shake some. It may have been that the room I was in was too cold. I could hardly wait for the thing to be over. The infusion is fairly simple, just a syringe of medication that is pushed in less than 10 seconds. This compared to drugs administered over hours of time. The preliminary steps, anti-nausea medication, steroids, etc, are time consuming. So a 10 second infusion can last an hour or more. The results from my first cycle showed the medication knocked back the bad cells in my bone marrow by 50%. A few more infusions and the doctors will have the results they were hoping for with the bone marrow transplant. We will see how this all goes. My red blood cells have been reduced, making me more tired. Otherwise I am able to get out a little and enjoy some of the summer.

Looking at my calendar, it was a year ago this week that I was admitted into the University of Washington Hospital with the understanding I would be there until I got a new heart. Seventy four days latter I walked out of the hospital to go to our small apartment for recovery. I had several folks stop in to say hi during this long wait. Some I turned away, because we were being very strict about seeing people, afraid I would get some sickness, any sickness, that would temporarily remove me from the top of the transplant list. After a while, we were turning away everyone, with the exception of immediate family members. To those who stopped in to say hi or were on there way to visit us that never had the chance to see me, we appreciate your understanding. This has not been easy on us.

Through this time, Rose has been my primary care giver. Making the drive between Wenatchee and Seattle to keep her job going and understand what the doctors were doing for me while I was in the hospital was hard for her. Today the doctors have told us they see that care givers for heart transplant patients seem to “hit the wall” after nine months. The care giver needs a break. Signs of stress may have been showing up early though. Note the above picture taken back in September after my heart transplant. Rose may be a “Survivor”, but the fact that her head band is on upside down could be a sign that all is not well. Today, I am now able to contribute to the run of the house, by doing some cooking and simple things like cleaning up the kitchen after meals or doing the laundry. She still handles enough to make for more that a full time job. We have tried to get out and do some normal things. Today we went to see Toy Story 3 at the theater. We enjoyed the outing together.