May 2009I travel St. Jude each month for a check up. Last week I was there, but instead of the basic blood work and see the doctor, I had about 2o other test scheduled. For 3 days, my days started at around 7:30 and ended at 6. After finishing my appts. up on Friday, we had a change of plans and ended up driving home that same day, getting us home at around 12:45am. In addition to 3 exhausting days, I have a cold. That may be why Saturday night I went to bed at 8 and woke up at 10am....I know lazy, but must've needed it because now I feel much better! Nothing like good old sleep to help cure ya.
Anyway, the tests done were compared to the results from before my transplant. They looked me over from head to toe...my eye sight, hearing, swallowing, teeth, heart, lung capacity, each organ function, bone strength, overall body strength, and much more(which I can't remember at the moment). Most of it came back the same as before the transplant, which is good. Example-my kidneys are still working well, my lungs capacity is still good, no changes in eyes, ears, or teeth, heart etc. The only thing that really changed, which was to be expected, was my bone strength and hormone function. My bones are extremely weak, like 4 deviations away from the normal. To give you an example of how weak they are-I have a raspy cough with my cold and my doctor said to be careful coughing because I could break a rib. Looks like no water sports or high impact activities for a while. They gave me some medicine to help the calcium supplement absorb better. Also, they gave me hormone replacement to help my bones and jump start things. My t-cell count still stinks. I saw a girl that I was in transplant with and she said that once she was off the steroids her counts went up. I still have a couple more months left on the steroids, so for now I don't expect to get to 400 (the magic number) till Christmas. Keep in mind, a 500 t-cell count means that I can stop my low bacteria diet and enjoy a subway sandwich with all the fixin'.
BUT...The most important news is that their is no leukemia in my bone marrow!! While the appointments were long, I'm glad to find out that everything is still OK! Well, minus the bones. Calcium on board now need more impact activity. Right now, I try and walk each day and do strengthening exercises. If you have any ideas for moderate weight bearing exercises, please pass it on! My goal is to beat my bones and get them stronger!
April 2010
3 comments:
Thanks for the update! Good luck with the bones, I will start thinking of some good exercises to pass on! :)
I'm glad for the good results! Yeah, you guys were busy when you were here, I was sad to not see more of you. One of these days you should come here with no tests so we can just hang out and do fun stuff. No tests meaning no st. jude and no school tests too!
Ok girl, when those counts are back up, I want to enjoy that subway sandwich with you! But lets be selective and make sure we go to a subway that has gotten good sanitation ratings, ok!?
You look like such a hipster in that picture with your mom. It was fun having you guys here for the week, Aubs especially loves you. She pretends to call you on her cell phone all the time. See you soon.
Zach
Post a Comment