Day 107--One More Week in Denver

We had a good meeting with Dr. Tse yesterday, and he gave us the official OK to move home at the end of next week. We discussed a number of potential concerns for the future, including infection, brain fungus, and the possibility that the leukemia could come back even with his new cells. But mostly, Dr. Tse said he wants Torger to remain very careful over the next three months so that he can get back as quickly as possible to leading a relatively normal life. (This is Torger, after all, so "normal" is relative.) After a few more appointments, including a meeting with an endocrinologist, some bone density tests, and another skin biopsy, Torger should be done with tests for a little while. The results from his tests last week seemed to all be positive...including the eye exam, where their primary interest was to make sure Torger was able to make enough tears. Hydration is actually a continual challenge right now. He's been having some edema (puffiness) in his ankles, and Dr. Tse chalked it up to not enough fluid and not enough exercise. So we got him doing some more walking yesterday, but drinking his required daily gallon of fluid is tougher. For the next three months, he's just got to approach "hydrating" as his job.

Day 104--Kicking Off the War

This weekend, we really launched our War Against Dust in a big way. Torger and I made our first trip back to Fort Collins on Saturday, which was actually kind of strange. By the time we eventually move home, we'll have been living away for almost a third of a year. And even though the time has zipped by, on Saturday it still felt like we'd been gone a long time. We got Torger ensconced over at Mom's house away from the activity, and then I went over to our place. Alex and Brandy came up from Denver, and together with Mom and me, we got all the furniture and junk moved out of the office and finished the actually pretty hellish job of scraping off all the old wallpaper. We got new windows ordered for the office and bedroom, to replace the original 1949 windows that not only let in a lot of cold and dust but also get moldy in wet weather. And we gave away our two big Persian rugs, which we both love but which, even after cleaning, are likely to harbor dust and cat dander. Mom found a painter who will be coming in mid-week, and later in the week, a guy will be coming in to pull out the bedroom carpet and refinish the wood floor. Our new HEPA-filtered vacuum has arrived, and boy, are we going to need it. Our house is probably as clean lately as it's ever been, but dust still accumulates in unexpected and hidden places...and we really do have a lot of books, which are big dust collectors. We are going to go up again Thursday and Saturday to coordinate some of the work and so I can get busy sorting and purging some of the excess stuff. Brandy also noticed that we really need to get rid of our accordion blinds because of the dust and the complete inability to really keep them clean. So that will be another project for next weekend. Driving back to Denver Saturday night, we both had the odd and comforting feeling of coming home as we approached the hotel. For the next two weeks anyway, it will be home.