I just posed about my AML post treatment (Catching Up: AML). Since I had not posted since September, I have some catching up to do. I'll step back a bit and start when I left the hospital.
After I was released from the hospital July 2nd. I was on the golf course with the Wicks' July 4th. (I wrote about that before) The following weekend we were in the Hills for our Grann reunion. It was great to see everyone and for the extended family to see how well I was doing.
I flew from Rapid City to Kansas City that sunday for our IDEA conference. It's one of my biggest shows of the year and though it is work, it's with a great bunch of people and tends to be a lot of fun. Though Andy hates hearing about my trips if there is any "fun" involved.
After Kansas City, the next weekend we loaded up the kids and headed down to Omaha to the zoo. It was a great weekend (HOT). We had only planned on going on Saturday, but on our out of town Sunday morning, we decided to spend a few more hours there seeing the things we missed.
Then schools starts. Alivia and Nevaeh are in school. Nevaeh was much more excited about it then Alivia.
Over Labor Day, we had our Mexico vacation. It has been on my to do list for quite some time to post about that. I'll do so shortly, but there is so much to tell. It was a great time and a necessary escape. Unfortunately we got word that Grandpa Dick had passed while on vacation. My parents, who were with us, had to hurry home. Andy and I finished the vacation as planned, but had flight problems on the way home. In the end, we had to fly into Omaha and rent a car, drive all night so that we would make it back for the funeral. Visits to the farm are a lot different without him.
Life returned to "normal" after our trip. The kids were in school. I started traveling quite a bit for work. Except for trips to the doctor for checkups, things were pretty much back to pre AML days. All is good.
The weather this fall has been unusually dry. No snow at all. A brown Christmas. Christmas was so different this year since we did not go to the farm. But we had friends, family and a pretty awesome prime rib. So all was good.
On Dec 26th, my niece, Ava was born. So the year, full of ups and downs seems to be ending on a high note. It is amazing how all the hospital stays seem so long ago... On to the new year.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Catching up: AML
I have done a poor job keeping up my blog since my treatments ended. I am finiding that there are fellow AMLers out there reading this. So I can promise you I will do a better job keeping this up in the new year. There is much to tell, but I'll give you the abbreviated version.
First I'll bring you up to speed on my AML.
My last treatment ended July 2nd. My 3 month and 6 month checkup showed that my counts were good and that I was still in remission. They were only doing blood tests and watching my counts, but I'm told they should be able to tell if my cancer comes back through monitoring my blood work.
At my 3 month visit, my bloodwork showed that one of my antibodies were low (borderline). This is to be expected with all the chemo. My immune system needs, and will continue to need a bit of a boost. To address this, I was started on monthly IVIG treatments. I think I will wrote a separate blog post about the actual IVIG treatment, but it is a blood product like platelets and hemoglobin. I did 2 of those treatments. At my 6 month checkup, my blood work showed that I no longer need additional IVIG treatments.
On thanksgiving I woke with what I thought was a rash on my side. It got significantly worse and painful throughout the day. Turns out I had a shingles. It was a first for me. I had never seen them or seen anyone with them before. Shingles is a reactivation of the chickenpox virus which lies dormant in our nerve endings. It can happen to about anyone and is more common in people that have suppressed immune systems. My breakout was fairly small, on my side and thigh, but very painful. It is very important that you see your doctor and begin treatment as soon as possible if you have shingles. If left to run its course, the pain can linger even after the sores are gone. For me, most of the pain and sores are gone (4 weeks later).
At my 6 month checkup, the doctor suggested we do a bone marrow biopsy. Since I had met my out of pocket and deductible for the year, it seemed to make sense. A bone marrow biopsy consists of the doctors sticking a needle into the hip bone to extract bone marrow. I had three prior to this one. Even though they are painful, the experience is generally not too bad. This time, however, the doctor struggled to get any bone marrow. They sent me to radiology where they could use one of the imaging machines to see what they were doing. The good news is that they gave me anesthesia at that point. I would highly recommend this approach to anyone getting bone marrow biopsy. Now that I’ve had it done this way once… I should be able to use that as an excuse for any future biopsies.
I will put my bone marrow results in a future post. For now, I have been feeling well. Energy has been good. Work has been good. The holidays with family have been great. It does seem, however, that the new year will have some new adventures in store for me.
First I'll bring you up to speed on my AML.
My last treatment ended July 2nd. My 3 month and 6 month checkup showed that my counts were good and that I was still in remission. They were only doing blood tests and watching my counts, but I'm told they should be able to tell if my cancer comes back through monitoring my blood work.
At my 3 month visit, my bloodwork showed that one of my antibodies were low (borderline). This is to be expected with all the chemo. My immune system needs, and will continue to need a bit of a boost. To address this, I was started on monthly IVIG treatments. I think I will wrote a separate blog post about the actual IVIG treatment, but it is a blood product like platelets and hemoglobin. I did 2 of those treatments. At my 6 month checkup, my blood work showed that I no longer need additional IVIG treatments.
On thanksgiving I woke with what I thought was a rash on my side. It got significantly worse and painful throughout the day. Turns out I had a shingles. It was a first for me. I had never seen them or seen anyone with them before. Shingles is a reactivation of the chickenpox virus which lies dormant in our nerve endings. It can happen to about anyone and is more common in people that have suppressed immune systems. My breakout was fairly small, on my side and thigh, but very painful. It is very important that you see your doctor and begin treatment as soon as possible if you have shingles. If left to run its course, the pain can linger even after the sores are gone. For me, most of the pain and sores are gone (4 weeks later).
At my 6 month checkup, the doctor suggested we do a bone marrow biopsy. Since I had met my out of pocket and deductible for the year, it seemed to make sense. A bone marrow biopsy consists of the doctors sticking a needle into the hip bone to extract bone marrow. I had three prior to this one. Even though they are painful, the experience is generally not too bad. This time, however, the doctor struggled to get any bone marrow. They sent me to radiology where they could use one of the imaging machines to see what they were doing. The good news is that they gave me anesthesia at that point. I would highly recommend this approach to anyone getting bone marrow biopsy. Now that I’ve had it done this way once… I should be able to use that as an excuse for any future biopsies.
I will put my bone marrow results in a future post. For now, I have been feeling well. Energy has been good. Work has been good. The holidays with family have been great. It does seem, however, that the new year will have some new adventures in store for me.
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