Day 141--I'm a Blog Slacker

I haven't done a good job of keeping up with the blog since we've been home, mostly because we're still trying to get our lives into some sort of rhythm and routine. We've both come to appreciate how much easier it was to manage in the hotel because our lives were so simple and contained. If we ran out of oranges or toilet paper, we just had to run down to the front desk! Of course, that also meant completely ignoring the big part of our lives that existed outside our hotel bubble. We pretty much just kept our fingers crossed that our house would still be standing when we got home after four months. (It was.) There's just a lot more involved in life at home, from keeping up with the house and appointments to actually getting dressed for work every day. It's great to be home, and we have NO complaints. But it's tricky trying to re-establish a routine.

On the plus side, Dr. Tse called last week and said Torger only needs to go back to Denver for appointments once a month now...his labwork is looking great and his platelet count is on the rise. He also reduced his immunosuppressant levels again and indicated Torger might be off them completely by the end of March! We're still going in for labwork twice a week at the hospital here in Fort Collins, and we've been seeing the oncologist here in town, Dr. Romero, every other week. But it's just fantastic not to have to drive to Denver as much as we expected we would.

Torger talked with his dad this weekend about possibly working through the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society to help mentor other patients who are preparing for a transplant, and we talked a little bit with Dr. Romero about it today. Torger was concerned that he's been so lucky all along the way, it might just depress other patients, but Dr. Romero said it's really important for people with leukemia and other serious cancers to hear positive news and have a reason for hope. While there's a significant marketing and fund-raising push behind breast cancer, we don't frequently hear the same kinds of success stories and rallying cries for other types of cancer. When Torger was diagnosed, I still thought of leukemia as a disease that affected mostly children...I knew almost nothing about it. We've both gained a lot of strength from friends who have dealt with cancer with grace and beaten the odds, even for awhile. So we're going to talk about this some more and see if there's a way Torger can help.