Friday, October 30, 2009

Hi everyone. Things are still going great as far as my health is concerned. I still get tired very easily and have a little trouble sleeping. I go back Wednesday (11/4) for blood work. Michael is still in Indiana. He has had some sort of flu for the last week and that has delayed his trip back. We don't know if it is H1N1 or not but it sounds similar. Hopefully that is starting to clear up so he can get a few days of work in at Purdue and come back. Hope all is well, Amy

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Good Morning! We drove back to Durham Tuesday and had an appointment with Dr. Rizzieri yesterday. My magnesium is holding at 1.3 so again they are fine with that and gave me another two weeks off so we drove back to VA yesterday. It's been very enjoyable and relaxing to be here for a while. The change of scenery is nice and the leaves are beautiful here in the mountains.

Hope you all are enjoying Fall,
Amy

Friday, October 16, 2009

So I've been away from the clinic/doctor for over a week now and I'm still doing very well. Mom and I are at home in VA for the time being since Michael is in California for a conference then he will go back to Indiana for about a week for another conference and to get some things done at Purdue. (Don't feel too sorry for him, the conference center in CA is on the coast about 10 minutes from Pebble Beach.) Grandma is sick (congested) and dad is in Myrtle Beach on a golf trip so it is just mom and I.

I'm having to stay at home pretty much all the time now since it is flu season and there is the additional threat of H1N1. Because of my weakened immune system I cannot have vaccines yet. I also cannot be around anyone who has had a live vaccine for 1-2 weeks (the H1N1 nasal myst is a live vaccine). Don't take this to mean the nasal vaccine isn't safe - we actually use a lot of live vaccines such Polio, the measles portion of the MMR, and the chicken pox vaccine. The doctors at Duke encourage anyone who has access to it to get it.

Also today is grandma's birthday (although she says it is just any other day) so I wish her Happy Birthday!

Amy

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Good news today! I do not have to go to the doctor or clinic or anywhere for medical reasons for 2 whole weeks!! My magnesium was still low but they've decided not to do anything about it unless I have symptoms (muscle soreness). So I'm free for 2 weeks.

I've said it a thousand times but I can't stress enough how much I appreciate your support, especially prayers. To give you more of an idea of what we've accomplished here are some statistics I was told at my first appointment with Dr. Rizzieri at the beginning of March. I was told...

- if I did NOT have the transplant there would be a 5% chance I would be alive in 5 years
- there was a 25% chance of finding a matching bone marrow donor (and on top of that I had a perfect match)
- there was about a 1 in 3 chance that I would survive the transplant

Amazing isn't it. I'm glad to be on the other side and thankful for all who helped me get there.

Amy