Almost July and Doing Great

Torger's comment this morning: "Only the good die young, and I'm not that good."

While that point's debatable, he's definitely still alive! A couple of months ago we marked two years since his diagnosis, and this week we're looking forward to another milestone...a visit from his dad, Jon. Jon has stayed in close contact throughout Torger's illness and been a big support for both of us. He came out for a visit while Torger was going through chemo, but given his heavy international travel schedule, we (and he) have been reluctant to have him visit until Torger was at least partially vaccinated. So we're really looking forward to seeing him now. Torger looks so much better than when he was last here two summers ago. Then, Torger was pale and really thin. Now he's kind of getting a gut! He hates it. This whole past year his doctors were on him to gain weight...eat butter, ice cream, etc. He didn't gain and didn't gain, and then it all came back at once! I think he looks great, but he liked being skinny. We've both been trying to get out and exercise more, which is also important to start rebuilding his stamina.

We're heading out to get T's blood drawn this afternoon, which he only has to do once a month now. I still watch his cell counts closely, even though at this point tiny fluctuations in the numbers probably don't mean a lot. But as he transitions to fewer and fewer doctors' visits, we've got to be paying even closer attention ourselves for any signs of a relapse. So far, there have been none, but until he's gotten a few years down the road, we can't really relax.

Happy Easter! And Wow. This Post is Way Overdue.

I apologize for my delinquency in posting updates...but in this case, no news really is good news. Torger's continuing to do really well in his recovery. He's now had two rounds of vaccinations, so he's about at the same point as a four-month old infant in terms of building up his immunities. This has made us a little more comfortable being out in crowds on occasion, but we still have to be careful. His stamina is not what it used to be, and things like having to stand in line for some time can really knock him flat. His next round of vaccines won't happen until his next transplant anniversary in the fall, so for now, we're kind of in a holding pattern. He's down to one daily pill, his anti-viral...but that didn't prevent him from picking up a nasty cold bug in February. That was a little bit scary. We both had it, and it was a mean one that gave us both bronchitis. Our doctor said it was turning into bronchitis or pneumonia in a lot of cases, so we were both very worried about Torger getting pneumonia. It was the first really big test of his new immune system, and fighting it really taxed his system. But he made it through! So we continue to feel encouraged...and we're looking forward to the end of this LONG winter. There was snow in our yard non-stop from November to mid-March! But things are warming up, and Torger's able to get outside a little more, although he still has to limit his sun exposure. He still deals with occasional bouts of GVHD on his skin, mostly around his eyes, and sun exposure can make that worse. So he's being careful, but getting out to walk or ride his bike whenever he can.

That's it for now. I'll post again (in a more timely fashion) as soon as there's anything new to report. In the meantime, Happy Easter!