Hi Lori! All is going well for me. Life truly is an an adventure and never boring! I’ve been very fortunate for my care at the Mayo Clinic and my recovery from MDS. I’ve done very well and was discharged from the hospital almost one week early. I have had some graft vs host issues with liver function so they put me on prednisone and changed my doses on other meds. They went down significantly, however, the last labs were up a little. I hope it was just a blip. My marrow and CD33 are 100% donor and my CD3 is 80%. The doctors are ok with this and say the CD3 should increase in time.

I’m not far from Mayo Jacksonville so the weather has been good to me. Allowing outside activities and meeting friends outside during the pandemic. I can’t imagine having to be closed inside for the winter. It has been helpful that others are also being careful due to the pandemic and I’m not the only one out there wearing a mask.

My hair is coming back and is about 1/2 inch long and it can’t grow fast enough! I’m not sure how long I’ll stand the wigs. The weight loss has brought me to the weight I should be and I hope to stay there. So right now I’m walking and doing some strength exercises to help this along and get toned.

I haven’t felt depressed and look at my cup as 1/2 full and getting fuller all the time. I’ve had lots more energy. I was used to running on a hemoglobin of 7 and with it doubled now, it’s great!

Overall, my transplant was very easy and I’m so grateful. I had a few intermittent very sleepy days in the hospital and a few after I got home. My wonky lab results were asymptomatic so I didn’t feel any different. Once I’m off the tacrolimus, I should be able to get the Covid vaccine and I start my childhood vaccinations next week.

I hope others are doing well through their BMT/SCT. Thank you Lori for keeping the communication lines open.
Gretchen