Saturday, April 17, 2010

Continuing the Boring Life

Visits to the clinic have now been cut to Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. My counts remain stable and I haven't needed any shots or transfusions. I've even had a couple of "good" days this week, meaning I didn't sleep the entire day. Yesterday I'm sure I slept 18 hours or more. But today I've felt more energized, took two walks and only napped for 2 hours. This is progress.

We saw the doc on Thursday and he continues to be pleased with progress so far. He outlined the plan for the next 30 to 40 days and it involves primarily watching for graph host disease or any other complications. At some point they'll start reducing the anti rejection meds and see how well Mike and my cells get along. In the meantime, my activities remain limited, I'm primarily housebound, and am thankful for the days we don't have to truck down to the clinic. Of course, Susan has to play nurse on those days, hooking up my IVs at home, which always makes her nervous since a nurse in Little Rock told her if she didn't do a particular thing it could kill me. Talk about increasing the pressure. That's worse than taking the nursing boards.

We received a nice card from a friend in Denver this week addressed to Susan and Dan Patterson c/o Uncle Gary. How funny! Soon Uncle Gary will get his own postal code.

Best to everyone.
Dan

4 comments:

Steven L. Ritter said...

Sound like a great result so far... I know it is boring but boring is good. Rest and blog when you can. Enjoy your walks and tell your wife to relax on the IV thing. I did that in the back of ambulances in the dark for years! I know your brother's cells will get along with yours Ok. They might compete for space based on your history :-)

kathy phillips said...

Hi Cuz, We always knew that those Patterson's had good blood. We're so happy to hear that you're doing well. Keep up the good work.
Give Susan my love.
Hugs from your California cousins, Kathy

Unknown said...

I got your url from a friend of your's in Spokane, WA. Her name is Arianne. I had told her about my experience with anal cancer and that I was blogging about it and that lead to your site.

Thank you for posting about your experience. I'm sure it will benefit not only your friend and family, but other people with the diagnosis.

Wishing you all the best,
Theresa

sigun said...

Dear Dan,

Am thinking of you two today -- hope the day goes well. Bises, S.