Merry Christmas

Dear Friends and Family,

This is a long overdue post....one that I have wanted to write for some time, but life has been chaotic to say the least. And I would love to say that it is settling down, but that always seems to be a jinx, as does my scheduling myself for work. The last day I went to work Bob phoned to say that my Mom was on her way to the ER with chest pain. She has been in the hospital 3 times since October and it has been a struggle, as my Dad was having terrible bouts of vertigo, for which many causes have been ruled out, but no exact cause has been found. So I have spent the better part of this Fall in Scranton. The week after Thanksgiving was my first full week at home. At any rate they are with us for Christmas and they are faring pretty well here, although my Dad is having trouble with our steps as the polymyalgia is weakening his legs....he will be 90yrs. on Jan. 7th and all things considered still doing okay. We had our poker-playing buddies over last Saturday and he played with us and elicited quite a few groans as he won some big pots. It was a good thing to see.

As Bob wrote in his last post, Dr. Luger continues to be pleased with his progress. His visits are now down to once a month, and his lab tests to once a week. His cyclosporin has been weaned down and is done today, so now they will begin to wean off the cellcept, which is the 2nd immunosuppresant drug and lastly will be the prednisone. Unfortunately the osteomyelitis has recurred in his mouth.....if you recall, that was a problem way back when he was starting the first chemo induction. The good news is that now that he has a normal marrow he can be treated for this. He's scheduled to see his oral surgeon on 1/9, and is on 2 antibiotics in the meantime. They seem to be causing some gastric distress this time around and he lost 2 pounds on his last HUP visit. His appetite isn't huge, and he's having some nausea, so he's trying to eat more frequent small meals. Hopefully the holiday fare will put some weight back on him. He'll get a good start at his Aunt Millies' tonight. We'll celebrate there with Bobs' family and we're having my family for dinner tomorrow.

As Bob said, our niece Megan did a fabulous job with Light the Night. Our final tally was over 6,000 dollars and I want to thank everyone who gave so generously to this worthy cause. We plan to do it up even bigger and better next year, and now that we know the ropes, I think we can be more efficient. I also wasn't able to help Meg as much as I wanted since I was in Scranton for almost 2 weeks before the walk. At any rate, next year we'll have a new addition at LTN as Meg is expecting a baby boy in February. Her due date has been changed once or twice, but somewhere between the 17th and 27th. She is doing well, but just said last night that being pregnant is starting to be "not fun anymore". But as long as she and the baby stay healthy we'll wait to have fun after he arrives.

Well, I need to wrap this up and what I really want to say is thank you to all of you from the bottom of my heart. This is the time of year to count our blessings, and God has blessed Bob and I a thousandfold this year....from his donor in Germany to all the medical personnel at Penn, whose generosity, expertise and caring made the transplant possible and thus far, successful.....but most especially we have been blessed with such caring and generous people in our day-to-day lives, who have given meals and rides, money and blood(can't ever forget the blood drive and LTN), and all your prayers and well-wishes. I know I haven't been a good blogger lately but that doesn't lessen the depth of my gratitude to all of you.
Bob and I send our warmest wishes for a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy New Year to you all. God Bless Us, Everyone.

All our love,
Bob and Mo