"You Should Be Dancing"

Oh those 1970's icons The Bee Gees! I vividly remember going from disco hating fire breathing "Ban disco" to wanting to be in the discotheque hoping to get lucky. My reason for the post today is while I am at day 72 I feel like I should be able to dance. Our dog Sadie should be able to chase a ball. We are both having issues, mine is a new bacterial infection causing me to be slowed to a near standstill, Sadie's is a probable ACL rupture. We are taking Sadie into the Vet tomorrow on the way to pick up some Cipro for me, when we return to town we should know if Sadie has to have a surgical solution. Poor Sadie, she can't bear any weight on her left rear leg and lays around a lot. We had a great if slowed a bit time this past weekend by the by. We drove to Crystal Mountain ski resort for a day trip picnicking on a bagel and cream cheese. We used to take Sadie up there and spend some real quality time hiking and swimming in some hidden high country lakes for her ultimate enjoyment. We had to leave her home Sunday.

Free as a Bird

A number of years after John Lennon was killed outside of the famous Dakota Apartment building in New York, the remaining Beatles finally got some unfinished demos together to record a few songs for the "Anthology" project. Real Love and Free as a Bird were the two new songs that were commercially released and were minor successes. I have some freedom now myself, for example I can grow my whiskers and even have some hair sprouting out of the top of my head now. With freedom comes some other side effects though. I contacted a virus called BK and am on an experimental 5 week study to determine the efficacy of an as yet to be approved by the FDA drug. I am also still being treated for GVHD which has caused some general weakness and fatigue issues. I just have to slow down and walk more and less bike for a bit I hope. Hopefully I can start to taper many of the immuno-suppressive drugs and get down to a manageable amounts so I don't forget to get my 30-40 pills in per day. Check out my whiskers, I seem to fit in in the Seattle scene. As 70 year old Ringo says, "Peace and Love!" 

"Lucy in the sky with Diamonds" (Love version)

Lucy was of course one of the most controversial Beatles' songs ever written. Most people go with the obvious L.S.D. acronym and say the song was an ode to acid. John and Paul differ as John had always maintained that his son Julian came home talking about a picture including many bits and pieces that would be turned into lyrics and the title. I choose to believe the Beatles version...
Today is day +62 post transplant for me. We had an interesting week, my new doctors diagnosed Graft Vs. Host Disease of the G. I. and mouth, they changed my meds a bit more. Along with Prednisone, I am taking some liquid beclomethasone  and some other new meds I can't even pronounce. On Monday the clinic doctor tried to complete an interthecal low back spinal procedure- he was successful at bruising the low back. I was in the clinic today, then forwarded to the U. W. to do the procedure under a scope- it went fine. I will begin to ween myself off of many of the drugs in the next few weeks. We did move home officially, this weather is sure therapeutic. Live Happy!

"Why Worry"

Howdy to anyone following my progress. If you didn't know, I have been doing pretty good since leaving the hospital in mid June. A few bumps in the road here and there... My most recent bump has been a low grade fever that has progressively worsened over the past ten days. It got to be more of a problem today so we went into the triage weekend clinic this afternoon. The on-call doctor gave his professional opinion that I have Graft Vs. Host Disease (GVHD) of the gastrointestinal system. They started me on prednisone and extra fluids for a bit. They will do some more exhaustive testing to make sure of this diagnosis Sunday and Monday. Like Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits said in 1978, why worry? GVHD strikes about half of the stem cell transplant patients. It is usually manageable with minor medication additions. My fever is already going down after the first dose of prednisone.  More later... Happy in Enumclaw- Greg

"Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In"

I did some research this morning and discovered that the moon is in the seventh house, and Jupiter has aligned with Mars a number of times since 1969. The 5th Dimension recorded this medley that originally came from the Broadway musical Hair. They ended up recording several other late 60's and early 70's hits like Up, Up and Away. We were still involved in Vietnam, there was some political unrest, and the end of the decade was fast upon the country. Different times indeed.
The Seattle area finally let the sunshine in today, we awoke to a blue sky and a promise of summer for at least a week. Yvonne and I just started my daily infusion of liquids including high doses of magnesium and potassium. I have been low in those two minerals for about ten days, taking supplements four time a day plus the fluid. It is day + 53 since my transplant. I feel fortunate that I have only had minor issues. Reaching out to other Leukemia patients I have discovered we all go through the loss of taste, feeling in hands and feet, hair, appetite, strength, and energy. The only differences are the level or severity of effects. So far, I am in the "handling it OK crowd" Other leukemia side effects include feeling cold (or hot) all of the time. I am in the cold camp, and will have difficulty not being able to fully enjoy the sun. (I can't be in the sun for any length of time while I am immuno-suppressed), I already have sun screen on and will enjoy the warmth with hat and long sleeves. 
John, our prayers are with you.   Live Happy-  Greg  

"Peace of Mind"

How come so many rock and roll stars end up dieing of drug overdoses, suicide, etc? They produce lovely music, and seem to burn out so soon (many anyway.) I was riding my stationary bike this morning and the first song on my Ipod was from Boston's self titled first album called "Peace of Mind." A song about the baby boomer generation and materialism with a nice workout beat. Boston's lead singer was Brad Delp, who just happened to grow up idolizing the Beatles and later formed a Beatles tribute band in the Boston area called Beatlejuice. Brad committed suicide in 2007 leaving a note saying he was a lonely soul, and that was that. There are some great lyrics from the tune penned by Tom Scholtz, the driving force behind Boston. "Now you're climbing to the top of the company ladder- Hope it doesn't take too long- Can't you see there'll come a day when it won't matter- Come a day when youll be gone." Is it me or has our pursuits in the workplace remained about the same (not counting the new I-Phone) since 1976?
Yvonne is doing a great job of making sure I follow my treatment protocol, I am improving every day. The POTS heart rate thing is even improving markedly. Today is day 47 since my transplant, I am almost half way to the magic day 100 when I can quit taking the immuno-suppressive drugs and move on to complete remission. Until then I will try to remember to stay in the zone where my peace of mind is just as important as everything else. Live Happy and please don't burn out!  The pic is Sadie and Yvonne relaxing a few months ago- Greg