February 9 Transplant Day 66

This week I have made s-lo-w progress. There is additional strength with my walking and time on an exercise bike. One more thing that I am struggling with is sleep. Some nights I get all I need and some nights I will be awake for hours. The lack of sleep will follow me for two days or so. My blood chemistry has gotten balanced and I am no longer on intravenous medications. That has been liberating in so many ways. I do not need to pack around my fluids with a back pack and portable pump. There have been times that I forget that I am hooked up to these fluids and if the back pack is not on my shoulders, I have walked away from the pump and had the IV tubing tug at my Hickman port line. The last thing I need is for this surgically inserted vinyl line in my chest to be tugged loose or out.

We have made friends with several patients and care givers here. There is a man here that has leukemia and multiple myeloma. His brother is a good match to donate bone marrow (allogenaic) to help with his treatment. During the screening of the donor, it became evident the donor has prostate cancer. This disqualified him to be part of the solution. The donor feels bad more that he can not help out then about his own cancer. Now a new donor needs to be sought. This requires a good biological match that is a supportive and healthy donor. Sometimes people offer their help but will back out or get disqualified due to some unforeseen illness. The search for a good donor is critical to give the patient the best chance for a good recovery from the chemotherapy.

I learned a great hand shake from a guy who lives in Alaska that is on the recovery end from his stem cell transplant. It is a “fist bump.” A hand shake becomes a vector for passing sickness between people during cold and flu season. The fist bump makes a brief contact with knuckles and nothing more. It is kind of trendy today. If I use this when I get home soon, do not be annoyed.