Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Update # 131

24 months

Good Afternoon,

I was waiting till Jeff and Meridith safely returned to Waterloo to send this update.  They left Hillsboro on Tuesday after 8:30 AM and decided about 5:00 PM to just spend the night in Iowa City.  It had been snowing along the way and the roads were partially covered.  A major accident on I-80 detoured them onto a parallel 2-way road which also slowed them down.  They took advantage of the mall in Iowa City this morning and did a little Christmas shopping before heading home.

As I had previously mentioned, there were some medical changes in November.  Jeff had begun those inhalers back in September and also began to decrease that higher dosage of Prednisone.  By the middle of November, he was on a low dose of Prednisone and even with the daily warm compresses, his eyes began to bother him more.  Jeff spoke with Dr. Wagoner in Iowa City who felt it was time to begin a daily pill for the eyes.  So on the 13th, Jeff upped his Prednisone a bit to his original low dose, cut back on the inhaler to once a day, and started the pill from Dr. Wagoner.  Jeff lost that some of that puffiness and some of the weight gain from the higher dose of Prednisone and the 2 inhalers.  Everything worked well and Jeff felt very good for his wedding day on the 29th.

Jeff and Meridith drove down here on Sat. the 13th for their IL reception on the 14th and the StL appointment on the 15th.  We all had a wonderful visit with Meridith's folks who had driven down from Ames for the reception here.  Sunday afternoon was such fun to have family and friends from MO and IL congratulate Jeff and meet Meridith.  The afternoon went by quickly.

Meridth's parents left early that afternoon since a winter storm was heading our way.  Prayers were with them along the way as it took them over 8 hours to get home driving through extremely bad conditions.  We drove to StL Sunday evening and stayed at the hotel connected to Barnes so we would not miss Jeff's Monday appointment.  Getting closer to StL, the temperature dropped in a matter of minutes from 60 to 44 degrees.

We ended up having a long day at Siteman but it was a really good day.  Dr. DiPersio was very pleased with Jeff's health and his counts at this 2-year post transplant anniversary.  All important counts were in the normal range.  There is some GVHD but it's manageable.  Dr. DiPersio feels Jeff is doing well enough to change from four-month visits to 6-month visits so Jeff does not need to return till June 2009.  Jeff was to receive 4 immunizations at this 2-year date but due to a nation wide shortage of one, he got only 3.  We've already contacted Iowa City and when Jeff goes there on Jan. 15 to see Dr. Wagoner for his eyes, he can stop by Dr. Carter's office first and receive that 4th immunization.  

The week after the wedding, Meridith came down with a bad cold and cough.  Jeff had the bad cold and cough this last week so as long as Jeff was there, Dr. DiPersio did a nasal swab and chest x-ray.  He said the lungs sounded clear but might as well double check Jeff.  Yesterday, Jeff got a phone call from StL that said the swab and x-ray were negative.  That's good so it's just a matter of some more days to get over the cold.

Now a bittersweet part of this weekend celebration of wedding and transplant,  my mother passed away in the early morning hours of the 13th.  The nursing home phoned on Friday that there was a change in her.  My brother and his wife were already driving down from Chicago to help with the IL wedding reception.  We were able to spend several hours on Friday with Mom and contact the 3 grandsons that there was a change in Nana.  We went home to sleep and planned on returning to her side in the morning.  The nursing home was checking her vitals every 15 minutes said they would call if there were any changes.  God gently, quietly, and peacefully took Mom to Him between those 15 minute checks.  We felt blessed to be together with Mom and that this change was not painful and did not last long for her.  Just like our dad, Mom donated her body to the University of MO in Columbia.  She wanted a memorial service so we are hoping to do one in January near the date of what would have been her 89th birthday.

God is great and we have seen His blessings with Jeff's health, his marriage, and having Mom reach her final home for this Christmas season.  May He continue to grant His grace to each of you during the months ahead.  I'll update after Jeff's Iowa City appointment in mid-January.

love,

Marcia