All,
Once again I have allowed way too much time to pass since my last update. Since then, I’ve seen my new doctor (Dr. Linker retired you may recall), had a couple of bad days, flew to Portland for my dad’s 87th birthday and bought a cord a wood. I’ve walked about 10 miles and ridden twice that on a stationary bike. In no particular order:
The bad days present themselves with incredible fatigue. No matter how much sleep I get, I’m still exhausted. It has happened twice and it usually lasts 2-3 days. I may be awake for 10 minutes or a few hours at a time, but there is no energy and sleep usually comes easily (even if sleep patterns are screwed up). This is often accompanied by:
Lower GI distress which prohibits me from going anywhere unless I know where the restrooms are and I am not too far from them. This problem occurs daily and can last all morning. Not much fun at all. Both of these problems are symptoms of Graft versus Host (GVH) disease. We try to control it with various drugs and we have varying amounts of success. Fortunately there have been only 2 such outbreaks since our last conversation.
My father celebrated his 87th birthday. The whole family was there. It was a real treat to see my brother Steve and my sisters Diane and Linda. Steve is the hardest to get together with, followed by Diane then Linda. As the distance increases, the visits decrease. It was great to have everyone in the same place at the same time. We had a great time and for the first time I can remember, dad was showered with gifts as he sat at the head of the table nearly hidden by presents. Great.
The physical therapy continues. There are lots of exercises we’re doing. There are several goals; we want to increase my balance, strengthen core muscles, and strengthen arms and legs. It’s working as I am able to walk much greater distances (1.5 miles) with much greater ease. My legs don’t bother me at all. You may remember it was not so long ago that my calves quit working after about .5 miles at most. I am enjoying my new found freedom. I remain handicapped, but I sure don’t feel like an invalid. In fact, I'm feeling so good now that I'm not home much, running errands, getting tires balanced etc. Haven't had a nap in several days! Still walking, but haven't cycled as much. We did have a weather turn yesterday, it's colder now so it's easy to be outside in long sleeves and long pants. That likely means there will be golf in my immediate future, cycling too.
And finally, I broke down and bought a cord of wood. Since I still am not supposed to be handling cordwood, I paid an out of work buddy to pick it up, drive it here, and stack it. Just didn’t seem right at all!
I hope you guys feel as good as I do. Love to you all...
Rick
