Nothing Says Success like Being Reminded You Could be Dead

Today was an unqualified success. Yesterday I went in for a PET/CT (which shows if there's any cancer growth). I'm already over 30 days out from receiving my donor cells, so it was time to run a check and see how things were going. Results were already back today, and clean as a whistle. No cancer on the scan.

Plus my graft vs. host (GvH) is starting to clear up even more. My hands chest and head are starting to look normal again and I'm able to do things like open bottles (which was much too painful just a week ago). My mouth is still quite raw inside, but it gets a wee bit better every day. I still have eye irritation, but I think that will abate once my steroids are reduced.

Which is why I was thrilled when the doctor told me that we're reducing my dose of steroids again. I'm on a metric ton of them, so it's a slow and trying process to come off of them. But starting out at 80mgs of steroids twice a day means I have a long way to go. Now I'm down to 2 doses of 60mgs a day. The lessened dose will make my muscles (and apparently ankles) weak, but I'm anxious to be on the lower doses. Steroids have some nasty side effects and I'd like to avoid as many of them as possible.

This is *most* of tomorrow's pills. An additional 7 and that's it.

 So everything at today's visit was looking up. The doctor even gave me a few days off from seeing him in the office (back on Friday afternoon). Last week I was there Mon - Sat...every single early morning. So this little vacation is quite the reprieve. Of course, if anything flares back up, it's back to daily morning visits for me. For today though, I'm happily on the upswing.

And to put things even further into perspective, my doctor offhandedly mentioned that if we hadn't treated the GvH, I'd be dead. Right now. No question. The steroids and the immuno-suppressants that I whine about taking are the only reason I get to curl up on my couch with my baby girl tonight and leisurely watch a movie. That beats the hell out of dead.