100-day health check coming up

The docs will be performing a 100-day health check over the next few days, to see what, if anything, is going on with the Lymphoma whilst I complete my transplant. Funny to think that my transplant is effectively still in progress - I've gotten over the hospital bit, but I don't view the transplant as complete until I'm off the immuno-suppressants and have a fully-functioning immune system.

The check begins on Friday with a CT scan to see if there is any activity (lumps) in my lymphatic system. Not wanting to tempt fate, but I think this will come back negative as the doctor had a good feel a couple of weeks ago and she couldn't find any lumps [** my immature friends should insert a smutty joke here **]. It'll be interesting to see what's going on with my spleen as it was still slightly enlarged going into the transplant.

Then on Wednesday I will have a bone marrow biopsy - really looking forward to that. This will show if there is any lymphoma in the new bone marrow. Again, expecting that to be clear.

Back to the hospital again on Thursday for a lung function test. That'll be a breeze.

It'll be good to have the checks just to see how I'm doing overall - and to confirm that it's all going as well as I think it is.

How to get through a transplant

I haven't posted in over a week because things are going so well for me at the moment. Unless I get an infection and end up back in hospital, the next big event for me is in a month's time when they start to reduce the immuno-suppressants and allow my new immune system to do what it does best. In the meantime, I continue to visit the hospital weekly for routine blood tests and a checkup. I still can't go out in public to areas where I might pick up a bug (hospital aside!), and will not be able to for another month or two.
In the meantime, I was talking to a friend this morning about how I prepared myself for the transplant and how I got through it so well. I believe that the steps I took in advance to prepare myself helped me to get through it and I feel that this is something that I should start sharing with others who are about to start going through the transplant process. I took what I experienced from my first transplant back in 2014 and worked with my Haematologist and a Psychologist to formulate a plan which worked quite well. In summary, it boiled down to two things:-

• How to prepare myself mentally for the transplant. This included the run up to the transplant as well as the time during the hospital stay. How to address the feelings of dread when I thought about the transplant; what to do when I am feeling without energy, bored, and maybe even depressed during the transplant; how to manage the transition between hospital and home. A few months before the transplant, I was very worried and started to dread the thought of it. Working with a Psychologist really helped and it got me through the whole experience with a positive frame of mind. I would be interested to hear the thoughts of the nurses and doctors who treated me during my stay on what they thought of my attitude and how I coped compared to others - I may ask next time I'm in the hospital.
• How to prepare myself physically. I have always believed that exercise promotes good health and I made sure that I went into hospital as physically fit as I could. For me, having just been through 6 months of chemo, this was running 5k every other day with 5k walks on the alternate days. In the run-up to the transplant, they perform checks on you to determine your fitness for the procedure  - this includes heart and lung tests - so I figured that having strong heart and lungs would be important. While in hospital, I walked 1k around the ward every evening - this kept me alert and strong and the hospital clearly believed this is a good thing as they have posters everywhere reminding all patients to have a daily walk. I haven't seen any studies between physical fitness and side effects of transplants (or chemo for that matter), but I cant ignore the fact that I got through two transplants without any sore mouth or bad infections and I wonder how much this is related to being physically fit.

Maybe I'll write a book!

Just getting on with it

Nothing much to report these days. After the intensive blogging during the transplant when something different happened every day, these days are quiet with little change between each one - which is how I like it.
I feel like I'm starting to get some energy back - with the recent nice weather we've had, I've spent a lot of time in the garden. I have also (shh, don't tell the docs) ventured to the shops during quiet times and have also walked around the village a couple of times. The doctor's advice is to remain at home and away from viruses until the May bank holiday. I'm going to draw a balance between going completely mad at home and risking catching something in public - I will go for walks and shop visits when it's quiet and not a lot of people around. If you live in Risborough and see me out during busy times, you have my permission to come over and slap some sense into me!
Anyway, I'm hoping things will stay quiet and predictable until the start of May. At that point they will start weaning me off the immuno-suppressants and we'll then see how (or if) the graft versus host starts to play up.