Wednesday, August 20, 2014
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Fifth Anniversary
As far as catching up, the main thing that happened after my last post in November of 2006 is that on Christmas Eve of that year, I got a pain in my jaw (lower right) that got worse quickly enough that I called my dentist that day. When I described the problem to him, he said it sounded a lot like an abscess and he put me on antibiotics. On the day after Christmas, he called to see how I was doing and wanted to see me so I went in. After examining me, he said it wasn't an abscess and he had no good explanation. I therefore called the Bone Marrow Transplant clinic and went in to see a doctor there. My regular doctor wasn't there so I saw someone who was not very familiar with my case, although he was the head of the transplant program. He looked in my mouth and saw some small white lesions on the right side of my mouth and asked me if I had any traumas recently like an illness or emotional trauma. I thought for a few seconds and couldn't think of any illness and so I said as much. The PA who was there and did know my case mentioned that there was the finger amputation that had happened just a month prior. Oh yes, well there was that. I laughed from incredulity that I hadn't remembered something that was actually huge.
It turns out that I had shingles or herpes zoster on my trigeminal nerve. Shingles is actually from the herpes virus that causes chicken pox and in fact, only happens to those who have had chicken pox and is usually triggered by some trauma or stress and is more likely to happen to people with compromised immune systems. I had all the elements - chicken pox, a compromised immune system, and a trauma. The BMT doc put me on another antibiotic for that and said that it was serious and that if it got into my eye as it sometimes can, he would put me in the hospital with an antibiotic drip. Well, it didn't get into my eye, although it did get very painful. I even had a bout one night of something called Trigeminal Neuralgia which some consider the most painful thing that one can experience. It came on very suddenly and really scared me because the pain was extreme and I had no idea what was happening. It felt like the right side of my face was literally on fire and was going to melt right of my skull. I woke up my wife and told her about it and that I didn't know what to do. The good news is that it lasted maybe 2 minutes (I'm sure it was not as long as it seemed) and then subsided gradually. Thankfully, it only happened to me once, but there are those who get it repeatedly, and among those, some actually take their own lives because of the severity of the pain and the unpredictability of its occurrence.
The shingles took a long time to get better and it really is an extremely unpleasant condition that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. I suffered with what is called post herpetic neuralgia for years and in fact, my lower right jaw and cheek are still somewhat numb, although it's not enough to bother me most of the time.
Aside from that, my health has been really good. When I get colds now, they tend to last a lot longer than they used to and I've had some sinus infections that have gone on for weeks and weeks, but overall, I can't complain. I had bone marrow biopsies at years 3 and 4 and they, like all the others, showed no evidence of the old bone marrow. Like I said earlier, I feel blessed and quite fortunate that not only am I still alive, which I almost certainly would not be with the transplant, but also doing extremely well. I also continue to be and always will be grateful to those who have supported me through the ordeal. In a way, they are the real blessing
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Month 28
Anyway, things were going fine until Wednesday afternoon (Thanksgiving Eve) when I had a very unfortunate accident with a hydraulic log splitter that resulted in the loss of the ends of 2 fingers of my right hand. We had been splitting for a while and were within a couple of minutes of being done when I broke the cardinal rule of using such a machine which is to not put your fingers on the end of the log. I won’t go into details partly because I don’t like to relive it. Although we had the severed tips, reattachment was not an option mostly because it was only the ends of the fingers. They were severed at the first (most distal) knuckle of my index finger and a little above that on my middle finger. I went to see an orthopedic specialist yesterday and found out that I had not lost as much as much as I had thought for 6 days (I had thought it was about ½ inch more than is the case). He also said that the skin graft which had been done in the ER that night may be good enough so that another graft would not be required. That night in the ER, they sewed some skin from the severed tips onto the ends of the fingers and my memory of what I was told was that what they had done was just to protect the ends and keep them clean, and that another graft would be done with skin from the palm of my hand. It was good news to find out that might not be necessary.
The bottom line is that I will be fine. When I heal and recover, I will have to make a few adjustments (e.g. typing on a keyboard), but will not be greatly hampered for most things. In the meantime, it has been and will continue to some extent to be painful and very inconvenient.
Lesson for all – when using powerful tools of any kind (including non-physical), do not get careless enough to forget how much harm as well as good can be done with the tool.
Love,
Justin
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Month 27
I had my first colonoscopy last week which was certainly not fun, but also not unbearable. The doctor removed 2 small polyps which he was going to biopsy, but I haven’t heard anything yet. I’m sure no news is good news. He said that about 20 – 25 percent of people who go in for routine colonoscopies have polyps, so it’s not really uncommon.
It’s actually kind of good that my clinic appointment was delayed a week, because in the meantime (on Thursday, 10/26), I suddenly got quite sick from a cold. I felt bad after work on Thursday, but when I took my temperature, it was below 98 degrees. A couple of hours later, it was 101.4 degrees and I felt really bad. The good news is that while I was home sick the next day, as the day progressed, I felt better and better, and by the end of the day, my fever was pretty much gone. A week later, my temperature had mostly been below normal, with a couple of instances where it got up around 100 degrees. So the fever didn’t hang on like last time, but the cold has really knocked me for a loop. I’ve been coughing quite a bit and worse, my cramping has returned with a vengeance, and has been debilitating at times. It usually takes me at least 2 or 3 hours to get to sleep after I lie down due to the cramping, and during the day, it can and does attack me frequently – back, abdomen, hands, arms, feet, legs, and neck (especially when I cough). The doctors don't know what causes the cramping, but when I went in for my clinic appointment on Monday, I got prescriptions for quinine (which I have not filled) and Atavan (which I have filled). The Atavan is an anti-anxiety med that the doctor said is effective as a muscle relaxant. The dose is small, but I feel like it has definitely help with me getting to sleep a little quicker.
My blood counts were:
..... previous current normal
..... -------- ------- ---------
WBC.. 7.8 .... 5.2 ..... 4 – 11
Hgb.. 14.7 ... 13.6 ... 14 – 18
Plt.. 337 .... 284 ... 150 – 400
All the counts are down from last time, but since they are all still in the normal range, it is no cause for concern.
I’m still thankful every day that I am off my meds. I don’t like being sick and feeling as bad as I do now, but knowing that it is temporary and that I will get back to feeling normal again keeps me hopeful and grateful.
Love,
Justin
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
Month 25
The other good news is that my overall recovery seems to be continuing quite well. I had my 2 year bone marrow biopsy/aspiration on August 30 and got the results on Monday. As I expected, the chimerism studies of both my bone marrow and peripheral blood still show 100% donated marrow. Not only that, but my blood counts continue to improve as follows:
..... previous current normal
..... -------- ------- ---------
WBC.. 6.0 .... 7.8 ..... 4 – 11
Hgb.. 13.6 ... 14.7 ... 14 – 18
Plt.. 274 .... 337 ... 150 – 400
My hemoglobin made it into the normal range for the first time since the transplant. They had warned me that it might never recover completely, but it looks like it has. So I may still feel tired from being sick for so long, but I now have more hope that my stamina can return full strength. I got a taste of that before I was sick and it felt really good.
More good news is that I’m now (since Monday) off all meds! I was just taking the anti-viral drug Acyclovir for the last several weeks, but since I seemed to get sick from a virus anyway, I’m not sure how much good it was doing. Now I have to get a Dexascan to make sure my bones have survived intact, plus I have to get a whole series of vaccinations - just like a kid would, I imagine:
- polio – (inactivated, non-oral) – 3 doses
- tetanus and diphtheria (but not pertussis) – 3 doses
- hepatitis B – 3 doses
- influenza
- pneumococcal – 2 doses
- hemophilus influenzae – 3 doses
- mumps, measles, rubella
I’m doing well enough that they are stretching out my time between clinic visits to 6 weeks instead of 4; plus I’m going back to the dentist and my PCP which I haven’t done for 2 years (with one exception for the dentist to fix a filling). Now I’m scheduled for fun things like a colonoscopy, for which I am overdue at 54 years of age.
Overall, I’m very happy that my recover continues and I seem to be doing as well as I am. There are always things to complain about like my taste still far from recovered and I still have muscle cramping in various parts, but these are relatively minor things compared to what could go wrong. I still see other BMT survivors who are still suffering every day at 4+ years post transplant.
I imagine the gaps in my blog will grow larger as I have fewer incidents and fewer doctor visits to report, but I do intend to keep making entries when appropriate.
Love,
Justin
Thursday, July 27, 2006
Month 24, part B
After I thanked him (again) for discovering that Dapsone was poisoning me (causing methemoglobinemia), he indicated he felt he should have figured it out sooner. He said when he did figure it out, he considered it somewhat of an emergency and that I needed to stop the drug immediately. Although he’s never seen this reaction to Dapsone, he has seen it as a reaction to other things like topical anesthetics and says he has seen it cause heart attacks. With the heart already struggling because of a shortage of oxygen in the blood from the methemoglobinemia, extra demands (like tennis for example) can be too much. He said that my exercising like that without having chest pains means that my heart is pretty healthy.
I’m guessing that he figured out the problem by thinking about the mechanics of normal presentations and my presentations of hypoxemia with relatively normal hemoglobin levels. I think normally the levels of cyanosis and hypoxemia that I was exhibiting would be associated with severe anemia (low hemoglobin counts), and since my Hgb was not extremely low, one might figure out that the hemoglobin was not able to transport oxygen sufficiently. This relatively simple connection might be why this doctor felt like he should have figured it out sooner.
Still feeling good,
Justin
Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Month 24
My counts were as follows:
..... previous current normal
..... -------- ------- ---------
WBC.. 4.8 .... 6.0 ..... 4 – 11
Hgb.. 12.1 ... 13.6 ... 14 – 18
Plt.. 262 .... 273 ... 150 – 400
I’m very happy with these counts (as was the doctor). I can’t remember when my hemoglobin was that high – almost in the normal range. Plus my blood pressure was very good and my pulse ox was 95, which is a little low but not bad, and way better than it was reading a couple of months ago.
Prior to the appointment, my meds were down to 5 mg of Prednisone a day and Acyclovir (anti-viral) twice a day. I had been taking Protonix, but when I needed a new prescription for it, I called and asked if I needed to continue it and since I haven’t been having stomach problems, I was told I could discontinue it. Since I have been doing so well on the minimal amount of meds I have been taking, the doctor said I should cut back the Prednisone to 5 mg every other day for two weeks and then I can stop! While 5 mg is about how much corticosteroid the adrenal gland produces naturally, but since I’ve been ingesting it, the adrenal gland cuts back its production, so the theory is that every other day dosing will kind of “wake up” the adrenal gland gradually to start producing again. The doctor warned me that while weaning, I may have some days of feeling a bit punk. I forgot to check about whether I can stop the Acyclovir when I stop the Prednisone, but I’ll call and ask in 2 weeks when I do discontinue Prednisone. Apparently, the reason they are continuing with the anti-viral drug is that there is still a risk of a nasty virus causing something like shingles. It would be good to not get shingles, so I’m willing to continue that med until they say I’m relatively safe.
Now that I have gotten past the effects of the Dapsone poisoning, I realize that at the time, I didn’t know how bad it had been when I was suffering from methemoglobinemia, which was depriving me of oxygen. It was really bad, and now I’m a strong proponent of not only breathing, but of making sure one gets enough oxygen. I’ve been feeling great with the only real negatives being some cramping (stomach, back, and feet) which is a little worse than it was a short while ago, but not nearly as bad as it was a while before that, and taste still not back to normal. Now it looks like I could be two weeks away from being off meds altogether. Things couldn’t be much better and I want to figure out how to celebrate the discontinuation of meds, a milestone that I think relatively few bone marrow transplant survivors ever reach.
I have an appointment with the pulmonary specialist tomorrow, and while I don’t feel that I need his expertise anymore, I think it’s standard to follow up. Plus, it will give me another chance to express my appreciation to him for figuring that Dapsone was killing me. My next clinic appointment is for my 2 year bone marrow biopsy which I have scheduled for 8/30, with a follow up appointment on 9/11. Assuming everything looks good, I would guess that my clinic visits will become a lot less frequent, and that’s fine with me.
Feeling great and very optimistic about the future,
Justin