Nancy's Update

I visited the City of Hope Tuesday for what we're hoping will be my last bone marrow biopsy. (Thanks for driving me Cathy!!!) My doc wanted to perform one either at 4 or 5 years post-transplant, so we compromised at 4.5 years. According to my extremely competent Physician's Assistant, Beth, the marrow looked beautiful. Music to my ears!!! In the past, since I had both MDS and Myelofibrosis, the marrow was sort of meshed together making the draw difficult (and painful), to say the least. No problems this time.

My counts are stable as follows:
WBC 3.5 (normal 4.0-11.0)
RBC 3.88 (3.8 - 5.2)
HGB 12.7 (11.5-15.5)
HCT 36.4 (35.0 - 47.0)
PLT 96 (150-350)

Many of you have been wondering what I've been up to. I can sum it up in one word "Life." This is a good thing. Keeping up with the family and returning to work part-time has kept me on my toes. Still love to play "Words With Friends" in my sparetime and am still walking 10,000 steps a day at a minimum. Our puppy, Miso, loves his daily walks as much as I do! I'm still helping with A3M events, as time permits, too. We have to find our dear Krissy Kobata a match!!!

Overall, I'm feeling pretty good. I still stay out of the sun as it causes rejection/Gvhd which manifests itself on my skin (mostly face and arms.) I'm still dealing with some neck injury from when my mom and I were rear-ended back in March. I have appointments twice a week with the physical therapist and the chiropractor. I'm hoping to achieve greater range/mobility when turning my head left and right. Also, hoping for the pain and stiffness to subside.

Thank you for checking on me. I appreciate all of your support over the past eight years!
love, nancy