January 27 Day 53

This past week the Transplant Team told me I would be moved from under their care. No issue with the transplant as that seems to have gone well. Today I have healthy numbers of red and white blood cells and platelets. It was explained to me that the new system takes about a year to catch on to fighting the most common sicknesses.  Thus I will need to be cautious to avoid sick people for several more months. For some reason I can not get a good balance of potassium and magnesium. The doctors do not think the problem is with my kidneys. It could be some interaction with the fifteen medications I am on or the infusion of fluids I get every day. Prior to this transplant I did have problems with these chemicals being low but not like now. I believe it is damage from the chemo that my body is adjusting to keeping these chemicals at their proper balance. Time should heal the body and make it so regulating these chemicals will be okay.  Then there is the issue with my lungs that no one knows what to do. The doctors are becoming okay with the idea that the shadows do not represent anything infectious. For now, I have been taken off of the additional anti-fungal medication.

There is a climber in the Seattle area that required a bone marrow transplant a few years back. After his transplant, he could not walk for more than five minutes. He said it took him a while before he was able to walk further. With persistence he eventually got to the point where he could run and get back into climbing. Today he guides in the Himalayan Mountains for both summit drives and treks at very high altitude. He has encouraged me to keep focused on getting better. He said, “At this point you have to stay strong in your mind and create a workout with what you got. The key for you is not to think about what were able to do but work with what you got.” One looses a lot of muscle and strength going through a bone marrow transplant. But with many cancers and a disease such as AL Amyloidosis, this has become the road to life and recovery. I will adjust my focus to see not where I have come from, but where I am going. I am striving for small improvements daily.