Whew!
Hi ya’ll:
Tuesday, September 18th--That sound you heard in the background, if you heard it in the background, is the sound of road noise because we are on the way back from Houston to Austin--from MD Anderson to home. There’s good news. Dr. Foreman, my neurologist, told us that today’s MRI, as contrasted with the one taken ten days ago, showed that there had probably been an inflammation of some sort in my cerebellum (where it’s hard to see lesions on MRIs), but that it had shrunk significantly in the last ten days and seems not to be a problem. It’s not a tumor. According to Dr. Andersson, there’s no sign of leukemia anywhere—not in the spinal fluid which is crystal clear, nor in the brain, nor in any of the fluids drawn during the bone marrow aspiration on the 6th. Other tests for infection, including the C dif infection (which some of you will remember my having had last year here in Austin that put me into Seton) was clear as well. So, we’re very happy, and a lot more tired than either of us realized we would be, and it doesn’t matter because we are happy because we are doing so well.
It’s been so long since I’ve written that I won’t even try to tell you all the stuff that’s gone on—so many small details and big details since the last time. But we did have a wonderful visit with Ledia and Wolf a couple of weeks ago. Ledia is fine and happy and more content and mellow than I had seen her in a long time. And Wolf was—is—spectacular and lots of fun. Now four months old, he weighs 20 lbs and he is trying with all his might--which is considerable--to stand up. He likes to be on my chest and other people’s chests with his feet and he struggles to pull himself up in the air as far as he can--and he does that over and over again. Anna says if we adults did that many squats from kneeling on the ground to fully standing, we’d be super strong. He goes far to his full height.
We also had a wonderful visit with Mason these past few days and just dropped him off at the Houston airport. Mason came to Houston as soon as we found out from Dr. Tucker that the brain MRI done in Austin showed there was a 7mm “enhancement” (which might have been leukemia or another kind of tumor) and we needed follow up at MD Anderson... It was fun to be with Mason; he’s driven us everywhere and hung out through a lot of appointments and waiting time. And helped us laugh (and cry) through it all. He also managed to be with us in Austin for the weekend--went with Anna to see Gotan Project and we all went out for many Mexican meals.
Dan and Diann, Dillon’s puppy raisers from Richmond, CA are coming here this weekend to visit Dillon (and us). We are so thrilled to be intertwined with them in this lovely way, through Dillon.
Wednesday, September 19th--I’ll close now. I want to thank all of you for so much love and so much support and so many kind thoughts and being such wonderful friends. We want to thank you for both your intangible and your tangible help--for taking care of Dillon, for taking care of me, for bringing me dinner, for getting me lunch, for coming over and sitting with me, for giving me rides to the doctor whether that doctor was in Austin or in Houston or in Dillon’s case, in College Station, where we took take him back in July—and the many many kind thoughts and words and calls. And doing that over and over and over for 2 years and 3 months now.
I am preparing for my UT class this afternoon. It feels great. Thanks and I will write again soon.
Love,
John and of course Anna and Dillon
Tuesday, September 18th--That sound you heard in the background, if you heard it in the background, is the sound of road noise because we are on the way back from Houston to Austin--from MD Anderson to home. There’s good news. Dr. Foreman, my neurologist, told us that today’s MRI, as contrasted with the one taken ten days ago, showed that there had probably been an inflammation of some sort in my cerebellum (where it’s hard to see lesions on MRIs), but that it had shrunk significantly in the last ten days and seems not to be a problem. It’s not a tumor. According to Dr. Andersson, there’s no sign of leukemia anywhere—not in the spinal fluid which is crystal clear, nor in the brain, nor in any of the fluids drawn during the bone marrow aspiration on the 6th. Other tests for infection, including the C dif infection (which some of you will remember my having had last year here in Austin that put me into Seton) was clear as well. So, we’re very happy, and a lot more tired than either of us realized we would be, and it doesn’t matter because we are happy because we are doing so well.
It’s been so long since I’ve written that I won’t even try to tell you all the stuff that’s gone on—so many small details and big details since the last time. But we did have a wonderful visit with Ledia and Wolf a couple of weeks ago. Ledia is fine and happy and more content and mellow than I had seen her in a long time. And Wolf was—is—spectacular and lots of fun. Now four months old, he weighs 20 lbs and he is trying with all his might--which is considerable--to stand up. He likes to be on my chest and other people’s chests with his feet and he struggles to pull himself up in the air as far as he can--and he does that over and over again. Anna says if we adults did that many squats from kneeling on the ground to fully standing, we’d be super strong. He goes far to his full height.
We also had a wonderful visit with Mason these past few days and just dropped him off at the Houston airport. Mason came to Houston as soon as we found out from Dr. Tucker that the brain MRI done in Austin showed there was a 7mm “enhancement” (which might have been leukemia or another kind of tumor) and we needed follow up at MD Anderson... It was fun to be with Mason; he’s driven us everywhere and hung out through a lot of appointments and waiting time. And helped us laugh (and cry) through it all. He also managed to be with us in Austin for the weekend--went with Anna to see Gotan Project and we all went out for many Mexican meals.
Dan and Diann, Dillon’s puppy raisers from Richmond, CA are coming here this weekend to visit Dillon (and us). We are so thrilled to be intertwined with them in this lovely way, through Dillon.
Wednesday, September 19th--I’ll close now. I want to thank all of you for so much love and so much support and so many kind thoughts and being such wonderful friends. We want to thank you for both your intangible and your tangible help--for taking care of Dillon, for taking care of me, for bringing me dinner, for getting me lunch, for coming over and sitting with me, for giving me rides to the doctor whether that doctor was in Austin or in Houston or in Dillon’s case, in College Station, where we took take him back in July—and the many many kind thoughts and words and calls. And doing that over and over and over for 2 years and 3 months now.
I am preparing for my UT class this afternoon. It feels great. Thanks and I will write again soon.
Love,
John and of course Anna and Dillon
Labels: Graft vs. host
posted by John Slatin at 10:45 AM
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