...It was now April, 2007. I loved being back in my own home. However, the Leukemia side effects and issues came home with me and i would continue to have problems from this ugly cancer. People who have had a Bone/Stem Cell Transplant know that it doesn't end when we go home.
... Leukemia with a transplant has many different side effects. I was having severe ringing in my ears. I had many bad dizzy spells. I also had Graph verses Host disease. That's when the body is fighting the transplant. Many times our bodies try to reject a transplant, whether it be a heart, kidney, liver or Bone Marrow Transplant.
... Some of the side effects i had from graph verses host were very dry eyes and mouth. They had to plug my tear ducts. They told me it would help. It really didn't do much. I also had to use special toothpaste and rinse. That did help a little. I had also developed purple patches throughout my body. They are gone now. The doctor said it was caused by my liver. I was having liver issues from the graph verses host disease.
...I was and still am very anemic. That is diagnosed from my red blood cells. It is not from low iron. I was so weak and always exhausted when i came home from the hospital. I continued to lose weight. I was also nauseous all the time because i had to pop about 20 pills a day. I was taking: anti-rejection pills, anti-viral pills, anti fungal pills, anti-bacteria pills, anti-biotic pills, anti-nausea pills, antacid pills, steroids and a few other drugs i can't remember.
...I was hardly eating and had to take all these pills. I was so nauseous that I would vomit in whatever room i was in. Sometimes the kitchen, the living room, the bedroom, the bathroom, etc... My poor wife had to always clean up after me. ( actually, she was my fiance at the time).That's love. Cleaning up vomit from all over. That's special. :-)
... I will continue discussing my Leukemia at home in my next post. Hope to see you all again... Have a great day...
...The picture above is our home in Rockland County, NY...
Reading this really touches me, im 19 with a cousin..more like a brother than cousin who is suffering from leukemia. He is 21...he was diagnosed with leukemia back in april. He currently is having fevers, doctor's have done many exams but don't know what the cause of them are. they did an exam today to find out if the cancer had complicated, i am really scared for him and are hoping and praying that it hasn't.
ReplyDeleteI hope your cousin is OK. Let me know. You can e-mail me anytime... Lorenzo
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