The 1040 Window

Oh my!  I just remembered that I never posted about what an incredibly wonderful Thanksgiving we had!  Last year, I was in the hospital for Thanksgiving and it just plain stunk.  Don’t get me wrong, we were so thankful for so much: I was alive and in remission (this was before my relapse in Jan ‘07) and nearing the end of my chemotherapy and hospital stay.  I was expecting to be home for Christmas and was likely all done with leukemia.  With regards to things-to-be-thankful-for it was a very lovely day.  With regards to traditional Thanksgiving activities, though, it was kind of miserable.  I could have no more than a few visitors and the food was aweful!  Since I was on a low bacteria diet, it was not just “hospital food,” it was hospital food purposefully made much worse.  On the bright side, that did give me another thing to be thankful for: I didn’t have much of an appetite anyway.

But this Thanksgiving!  Even WITHOUT comparing it to last year’s, Natalie and I agreed it was our favorite Thanksgiving ever.  On Thanksgiving Eve, Natalie cooked an absolutely amazing, traditional dinner and just the kids, Natalie, and I had such a wonderful time.  Later that eve, my parents came over for leftovers and I had a second dinner with them, followed by desert!  Then on thanksgiving day, we simply relaxed all day long, together as a family, and made a Thanksgiving tree.  After the sun set (I have to avoid sunlight), we went for a short visit to the Boydston’s gathering.  I put my mask on, we sanitized everyone there with a “Purell Party!,” and had a lovely time together.  All in all, it was a most marvelous Thanksgiving.  I could not imagine having a better one.

Currently, my graft versus host might be getting a little better.  Either way it does not matter much.  Since it is mild GVH, it is just really annoying (itchy, dry and very flaky skin), but it is actually helpful for not getting leukemia again.  I have another doctors appointment this Monday and we expect it to be pretty mundane, except that it will be the first time in many months that I will get stuck by a needle (the PIC was used for blood access).  This is only a big deal because after 18 months of treatment, my veins became very hard to get, which translated to very painful.  In fact, one of the most painful experiences thru it all was a little needle (can not remember if it was a draw or an injection).  It was one of, I think, three times, that I screamed from excruciating agony.  Thankfully, it was very short!  Needless to say, it left me with a little fear of being poked but it will probably be fine; we will see!

Overall, I am feeling pretty hootin’ good.  I feel good more than I feel crummy, I get little spurts of energy, and have an itsy, tiny bit of endurance.  I actually cleaned out my car the other day, though it REALLY wipped me out.  But I did it!  This is very typical for the 6-9 month period after a transplant but it is actually a little dangerous.  People start to feel stronger and better enough that they over do it and end up in the hospital, thus setting their healing back a bunch.  I have to practice a lot of restraint and with it being cold and flu season, I have to be very cautious.

I also want to mention something completely unreleated.  YoungLife Ojai Valley, a nationwide and local ministry, is having a fundraiser in the form of a raffle (YoungLife is actually the ministry that connected me to NewLeads, resulting in my employment there!).  Tickets are expensive, $200, but this means three things: 1) It is a great support for YoungLife 2) The prize is amazing 3) You have a very good chance to win!  For all the details see www.londonraffle.com.  If you are interested, HURRY!, because the raffle is on December 18, 6 PM.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 13th, 2007 at 10:58 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.