Things have remained "about the same" in regard to Ron's health. That means that there have been a couple issues to deal with but not necessarily a crisis. He had a respiratory "cold" and I packed things for a hospital visit, but his regular antibiotic and antiviral medication fought it off. His oxygen saturation ran lower for a few days, but as is usual for him, he didn't develop a fever. Next on our agenda was 2 falls about a week apart. He fell backwards and hit the small of his back on our bedrail, leaving a big bruise and possibly a cracked rib. We did not go for X-ray or doc appointment. The second fall was more serious. He kicked during a dream and fell out of the bed, hitting the walker, cane, and possibly the night stand. He had marks from the top of his head to the top of a big toe. Because of quite a skin tear/ gouge on his lower leg, I could not help him get up. Our usual strategy is to get on hands and knees, bring a chair for him to raise his upper body, then help him up from his knees. I had to call 911 for paramedics. They gave him the choice of going to the ER or not…well, guess what? He didn't want to go to the ER. I will know if there is next time, to tell them at the door to not offer a choice. He probably should have had his head wounds and leg wound checked. The skin tears on both arms were what I consider routine now. The next day we returned to BG, and the home nurse did make a visit. He has a big bruised area on his left cheek, and scabs on the top of his head. The arms' skin tears are healing well; the leg wound will take awhile. Since paramedics and a home nurse have checked things out, I will keep doing what I am doing. We go back to Ann Arbor in 2 weeks for treatments and an appointment with the Bone Marrow Transplant Clinic. That will be 6 weeks between appointments which is the longest gap in 5 years. I feel confident that 6 weeks between ECP light treatments will be enough to avoid a flare of graft versus host disease.
Love, Ron & Jan
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