October 5, 2009 11:10 PM

Another good day!

Weatherwise, healthwise, I'm still trucking along. Did some work in the basement as I planned to do.

Nothing of any great import to divulge. As I said yesterday, Wednesday will be another big day in a long line of big days as I finally get to the doctor's office. It's hard to believe that it's been 6 weeks since my last visit and over 7 and 1/2 months since my transplant. I'll certainly be curious as to what the doctor thinks I should be able to do at this point in time.

In order to prepare for this, I have gone out on the web to get a better idea of what should happen to someone who undergoes a bone marrow transplant. It's a whale of a lot easier to do this now since I have progressed so well.

Here's one sites take on what happens...

"Bone marrow transplants are accompanied by a risk of infection, transplant rejection by the recipient's immune system, and othe complications. The procedure has a lower success rate the greater the recipient's age. Complications are more likely in people whose health is already impaired. Even in the absence of complications, the transplant and associated treatments are hard on the recipient."

The good news from this site is that it says that "Barring complications, the recipient can return to normal activities about 6-8 months after the transplant." However, it does say that the recipient's progress must be monitored for a full year after the transplant.

Another site says that "most adults over the age of 55 develop graft vs host disease". Also it is stated that "liver complications afflict as many as 50% or more of patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation, possibly causing fatal liver and kidney failure."

How fortunate have I been? If I had known all of this up front, I don't know how I would have reacted to facing a such formidable future.

This has truly been a miracle...

Bob