Good morning, @anitasharma. Knowing your husband is recovering nicely from Covid is just the best news, indeed! Illnesses like that can be tricky early in the recovery of a bone marrow transplant patient. It also shows his new immune system is active and strong. As my doctor shared with me, yes, the Paxlovid did its job of halting the replication of the virus but the body still has to do the remaining job of clearing it out. So, from my understanding, having your husband recover so quickly is a good indication of his overall health with the transplant. ☺️

As for his weight, I know he still probably looks like skin and bones. That’s not unusual at this time. I struggled to gain weight as well. I’d lost over 50 pounds at one point during the cancer treatment and the BMT. We joked about putting weights on my ankles so I didn’t blow away in the wind! LOL

Tips I used for gaining weight were eating extra foods throughout the day (snacking), I added extras to my food for more calories and protein, such as cheese or nut butter on whole-grain toast and more milk/dairy products. For a while my dietician told me to eat anything I wanted, even if it wasn’t the healthiest…just to pack on calories. She said they (my doctor/team) would worry about Cholestrol and such later. Gaining some weight was paramount.
So my husband, on a mission to ‘put meat on my bones’, resorted to ice cream! 😂 I’m lactose intolerant but he found Lactaid Salted Caramel Chip Ice Cream, which is lactose free and made me smoothies, dishes of ice cream, cones…whatever. That helped! Le sigh…because it is so loaded with fat, saturated fat, sugar, it’s no longer on my diet. I miss it! But it did help for some weight gain.

I’m sure with your in-laws there, his mom is doing her best to fill her son’s tummy. One of my dearest friends and her family are from India. When her mom or her mother-in-law visit, we’re rubbing our stomachs on the way out of the house! Haha never a lack of amazing foods and rich sweets! So I’m thinking Gulab Jamun or Kulfi for a few treats that would add inches around the waist. Sure did for me! ☺️

Also, if your husband is still on many of his meds, until he’s fully off, that can contribute to lack of weight gain. As long as he’s feeling good and his doctors aren’t raising an eyebrow, the weight should come eventually. Though to be honest, I am still borderline underweight but I feel fantastic so I just accept this as the new me.

Oh goodness, you and your family have had so many changes over this past year! Now your son will heading off to university. Will he be staying in Canada or returning to India to study? The most beautiful news however, is that your husband is still with you and your family is complete. Please know that you are so often in my thoughts and that I’m overjoyed that this medical adventure has had such a positive outcome. 💞

@anitasharma

Such great news for this Thanksgiving Day. Lori's messages are always so helpful!
As we take each day we have been given, I hope we all give thanks and words of gratitude to our medical teams and to all on this site who know Mayo has given us a place to connect. My goodness, I am in California and anitasharma has family in India and so many others all around the US, Canada and the world.