Maintaining status quo!
Week 12 of my photophoresis treatments has come to an end. As I balance where I am against others who are currently going through the same treatments, I see that I am doing fairly well and I see that improvement should be on the horizon. Every time a go, a physician's assistant comes by to check my lungs as it is fairly common for graft vs host disease to strike there. I have no such issues.
My regular doctor's appointment on Tuesday did not reveal any news that I did not already know. Any counts that were high were still high - though most of them had come down from previous levels. Therefore I am in the "medical watch" category - not the "medical warning" category to borrow terms used by the weather people on television.
Speaking of that. this weekend we expect to see our first hurricane in 20 years go over us. By the time they get to New Hampshire, they are usually greatly weakened. However, 70 mph winds and heavy rain can still inflict a lot of damage.
We got some disconcerting news regarding my sons condition. His physical recovery from the surgery that he had back in July is going well. However, since he was immobile for an extended period of time, he experienced some pains in his chest and went to the emergency room today. They found a blood clot in his right lung! He was immediately admitted to the hospital to begin a regimen of blood thinners with the expectation that he will come home tomorrow. Let's pray that that happens.
Gotta run as we are off to ballpark to see our local minor league team play tonight...
Bob
August 22, 2011 11:10 PM
Well, I did it!
I managed to break one of the lenses. It's not easy to do - but I did it! Each night both lenses must go into a special holder that is inserted into container that has a special wash in it. It's purpose is to sterilize the lenses. I know that there is only one way that the lenses fit into the holder, but, unbeknowst to me, one of them got inverted. When I closed the case, the lens got cracked. Of course, I didn't notice this until this morning when I went to put them in. Now, I have a backup lense for the left eye - but not the right one. Give a guess which one broke!
Fortunately, this happened last night. So, a quick call went out to the Boston Foundation for sight and they agreed to make me a new one that I could pick up later in the day. This we did. Now, I sit with my fingers crossed as to whether or not my insurance company will pay for the new lens as it cost a measly $600.
That was the highlight(lowlight!) of the weekend. Otherwise, I continued to get used to the lenses. Enough so, that they felt fine when I wore them all day on both Saturday and Sunday. No more constantly inserting eyedrops because my eyes were uncomfortable. So the lenses are certainly doing the job in that regard. The cloudiness seems to be dissipating somewhat as well. We'll see how that continues to progress until my next appointment on the 12th.
However, there is still one regarding clarity of vision. The lenses correct to 20/20 at a distance and drug store "cheater" glasses help immensely with close up reading. However, distances of 2 to 4 feet remain blurry in either state. This manifests itself when we play bridge with our friends. I have a great deal of difficulty making out the suits of the cards that have been played. One solution on Saturday night(when I was declarer) was to wear my wife's glasses as they are progressive bifocals and bring all distances into focus. It appears that a new pair of glasses is going to be necessary. This will mean that I will always have to have two pair of glasses with me - one pair when I wear the lenses and a second pair whan I do not(this pair I currently have).
It's taking time for me to grope my way into what the "new normal" is to be. By the way, the lenses work great at the movies, We went to see "The Help" on Saturday(a great movie) and the screen was easy to see - including reading the credits at the end which was giving me a problem before I had the lenses.
All in all, no real complaints which explains why I don't make daily entries anymore as there is not much meaningful information to impart. Tomorrow is my appointment with my primary care physician. It's a routine checkup - though I do get to find out all the wonderful things that the prednisone is doing to me.
Life marches on with a heavy emphasis on the word life...
Bob
I managed to break one of the lenses. It's not easy to do - but I did it! Each night both lenses must go into a special holder that is inserted into container that has a special wash in it. It's purpose is to sterilize the lenses. I know that there is only one way that the lenses fit into the holder, but, unbeknowst to me, one of them got inverted. When I closed the case, the lens got cracked. Of course, I didn't notice this until this morning when I went to put them in. Now, I have a backup lense for the left eye - but not the right one. Give a guess which one broke!
Fortunately, this happened last night. So, a quick call went out to the Boston Foundation for sight and they agreed to make me a new one that I could pick up later in the day. This we did. Now, I sit with my fingers crossed as to whether or not my insurance company will pay for the new lens as it cost a measly $600.
That was the highlight(lowlight!) of the weekend. Otherwise, I continued to get used to the lenses. Enough so, that they felt fine when I wore them all day on both Saturday and Sunday. No more constantly inserting eyedrops because my eyes were uncomfortable. So the lenses are certainly doing the job in that regard. The cloudiness seems to be dissipating somewhat as well. We'll see how that continues to progress until my next appointment on the 12th.
However, there is still one regarding clarity of vision. The lenses correct to 20/20 at a distance and drug store "cheater" glasses help immensely with close up reading. However, distances of 2 to 4 feet remain blurry in either state. This manifests itself when we play bridge with our friends. I have a great deal of difficulty making out the suits of the cards that have been played. One solution on Saturday night(when I was declarer) was to wear my wife's glasses as they are progressive bifocals and bring all distances into focus. It appears that a new pair of glasses is going to be necessary. This will mean that I will always have to have two pair of glasses with me - one pair when I wear the lenses and a second pair whan I do not(this pair I currently have).
It's taking time for me to grope my way into what the "new normal" is to be. By the way, the lenses work great at the movies, We went to see "The Help" on Saturday(a great movie) and the screen was easy to see - including reading the credits at the end which was giving me a problem before I had the lenses.
All in all, no real complaints which explains why I don't make daily entries anymore as there is not much meaningful information to impart. Tomorrow is my appointment with my primary care physician. It's a routine checkup - though I do get to find out all the wonderful things that the prednisone is doing to me.
Life marches on with a heavy emphasis on the word life...
Bob
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