I have probably mentioned already that the first “milestone” (whatever it means) after transplant is the +100 day. I guess most serious problems (including death) happen in that period. Also, around that time they perform the 2nd bone marrow biopsy, mainly to look for signs of the cancer returning, and of course for the performance of the new marrow. I had mine last week. Well, the major news, which we got yesterday (I was waiting for it before writing this post) is the preliminary report, which says that they found no sign of cancer. The next bone marrow biopsy is 6 months after transplant, and the one after it is a year after transplant.
Otherwise, the skin and neuropathic problems I wrote about last time continue to disturb my sleep (and waking) hours. But it seems that the new lotions and medications, partly through experimentation with doses and combinations, are starting to help. We'll see how far it gets.
The picture today demonstrates one record broken this week - the number of pills I take. What you see is only the ones I take in the morning! You can guess what each does – what I and lots of others wonder about of course is how much they interfere with each other – it is hard to believe they don't. Another issue is how do people in general deal with this quantity and variety, and the changing doses of some, especially the immune suppressants. I have Edna to sort them, and order refils on time, and I check what she does, and she checks that I take them etc. I tell you, it is highly non-trivial for organized, responsible people... And in the picture, no, spoon you see with the yellow goo is not Mary Poppins'“spoon full of sugar to help the medicine go down”, but rather another medication which so far I can't take in pill form, and which is the most disgusting of all. Having breakfast immediately after I take it serves also to remove that taste from my tongue.
Finally, this week was really good in that I needed to go to an MSK facility only once (as opposed to 3 times last week). Next week I'll probably have 2. But the average seems to be boing down!