March 11, 2007

It’s day+38 and I’m doing so much better. My GI tract is doing well and I’m starting to add some things to my diet. 2 days ago I had a scrambled egg and yesterday I added bread to make French toast. Today I took some canned chicken and made chicken salad with a little mayo and mustard and had a sandwich. So far so good without any more flare up of GvHD symptoms.

When I first came home it took me about 1 minute to climb the stairs. I had to pull myself up with my arm muscles because my thighs were so weak. When I got to the top of the stairs I had to stand and rest before I could walk any farther. It was a really weird experience. My high dosage of prednisone debilitates the large muscles near the body core. That along with living on a very low protein diet has depleted my protein stores.

Today I can get up the stairs in 15-20 seconds and continue without stopping. I still need to use my arms to help, but not nearly as much. Each day I feel a little stronger (very small steps) and am so appreciative of God’s grace to me. My prednisone dosage has been lowered a little and will continue to be lowered slowly now as long as no GvHD symptoms flare up again. That should help my muscles to work better again.

Being home has been great for Barbara as well as me. When she went to the hospital every day there wasn’t one spare minute for her. Now she can be home and have time to do some things for herself. I can’t express how well she cares for me and what an angel of mercy she is.

Thanks again for your prayers. God is really doing miracles in this old body of mine.