But I’ll write to tell you why.
This Bone Marrow Transplant recovery thing has been going on for 7 months, now — nearly three in the hospital, and four at “home”.
Home is wherever you can get the best care, and for me, that was at my sister’s since it was a ranch house and easiest given the driving conditions (my clinic is at least an hour away).
I stayed at my sister’s for two months, then my ex-wife (long story) came out from the midwest to handle the care and I was able to stay at my house for a month. Then, she and my sister decided it was better to go back to my sisters, which I did.
My brother and sister-in-law started filling in for my sister at my house two weeks ago.
Okay, so what?
Add into this:
- 4 medication sessions daily
- 3 meals
- cleaning pic lines (blood or medicine lines attached to your arm) twice weekly
- exercise, usually walks outdoors, twice daily
- cleanliness routines
- other medication routines having to do with graft vs. host disease
- preparing medication after semi-weekly changes
- twice a week follow-ups at cancer clinic (1.15 hr away), with one 2-hour blood transfusion weekly
So, the bottom line is there’s a lot going on for all parties involved.
Because of the caregiver situation, I’ve noticed that small crowds don’t sit well with me and force a kind of quiet turtle effect to overcome me. Instead of being the life of the party (I was, many years ago) I just quiet down and withdraw.
A Forced Jump Ahead
I guess what all this amounts to is the fact that there are other things going on — a great deal of maintenance, care, medicine, doctoring, transfusing, etc. This can get distracting, and distract it does. But it’s part of the process of recovery, so it counts, and I’m realizing as I write this that it’s an important part of these journals.
