Late May a simple cold drove the guy through 3 rounds of different antibiotics to elude the arch villain Pneumonia! A week or so after each round of antibiotics, Gil would start getting the fever and rasp. Scary. The last time they acted on the theory that he had a chronic sinus infection and that the drainage kept reinfecting his lungs. Some IV antibiotics and 3 weeks of oral plus a nebulizer and he emerged victorious, but exhausted.
In the end of June/beginning of July our son David came home in the midst of a crisis. He's been living with us since. I'll get into his story some other blog.
At the end of July we had a scare when Gil had some incredibly painful "spots" which we assumed (incorrectly) were bone fractures, a common Myeloma symptom. He was hospitalized as his pain and fever went up (of course on a Friday night as his doctor was heading out on vacation). And so began the weekend of detective work by a variety of doctors. None of the tests or symptoms were conclusive but by about a week later, after he seemed to respond to a med (one that's been used by people for more than 2000 years!) they decided that it was pseudo gout. and it hasn't returned . Thank God!
We continued with our ongoing farm drams with escaping goats (aptly named Diablo and the outlaws), hoards of meat chickens and stupid turkeys. As we have been getting ready for winter, unfortunately Gil started doing the pneumonia dance with a cold, again. He's on his 2nd round of antibiotics but I suspect it will not be the final one of this episode.
His Myeloma and kidney numbers remain steady, so we feel blessed. We lost a friend from our support group this summer who had been doing his transplant a little before Gil. It was a sobering loss. And today our good friends down the road (the one who got Myeloma at the same time as Gil) who had a transplant about 4 months before Gil, her "numbers" have gone up to the point that she's out of remission and back on the chemo treadmill. I confess it's starting to hit me that we won't be this fortunate forever. Makes me want to savor ever day and pleasure we have.
Sorry, I can't dig up a witty or wise ending. But at least I can let go of the guilt of not having updated you sooner.
The blog is back!!
