September 1, 2010 10:55 PM

Todays rundown!

From my first doctor's visit after 13 weeks.

1. The major interest was my eyes. As I mentioned before, the dry eye effect is the direct result of graft vs host disease(GVHD). The doctor said that I should have an appointment with an opthamologist which they will set up at Mass Eye and Ear. Their treatment regimen is drops. If this fails, there is a facility in Needham that uses special contact lenses as treatment. I hope that it doesn't come to this as I hate purring anything in my eyes - even drops.

2. The doctor noticed blotchy area on my stomach and, therefore, precribed a boosted dose of prednisone to bring any skin problems under control. Again GVHD. None of this is surprising or unusual as the disease usually rears its ugly head from 6 months to 2 years post bone marrow transplant. With any luck, the boosted prednisone will also diminish the dry eye situation as well.

3. While 1 and 2 sound like items of concern that certainly deserve to be closely watched to make sure that we keep them under control - there is underlying good news! It means that the bone marrow transplant is still actively doing its job and the doctor has no concerns or fears that there is any present danger of the leukemia returning.

4. This was corroborated by blood count numbers being the best ever. This also includes my blood pressure, oxygen level, etc. Certainly a cause to celebrate and remain positive.

5. No three months to the next doctor's appointment, I have to return in 4 weeks. That's no surprise and I wouldn't have expected anything else. As the doctor said, we have to be pragmatic about the progress and take active steps to see that everything remains on the path to full recovery.

Now tha September 1 has arrives, my wife and I are now covered by Medicare as well as a defense mechanism against the company terminating my health insurance at a moments notice as they have already tried to do. So, yesterday, I tried to terminate my company insurance to avoid having double coverage. No can do! It seems that while you are on Long Term Disability you are still considered to be a full time employee. In such a case, you cannot terminate your health insurance until January 1 of the next calendar year.

The woman that I spoke to had a really brilliant idea. She said that I could termintae the insurance immediately if I chose to retire. In such a case, my Long Term Disability payments would be terminated immediately as well! It took me quite a while to ponder what my decision would be - double health insurance for 4 months or no more Long Term Disability checks!

In short, I'll gladly trade no leukemia for having some GVHD.

I can live with that...

Bob