Here we are, 19 weeks from the transplant, 15 weeks since I came home.
In my last blog I wrote about how I was advised, that with care to avoid people with infections, I could be more relaxed about seeing people. I will not have had my innoculations for flu and covid until October, and I will then start my childhood vaccinations. So, with due care, I have ventured out into the world.
A wild animal that has been rescued and has recovered, when it is returned to the wild it will reluctantly leave the cage at first. The cage has become a safe place. It takes time to venture out, and if the cage is left it may return from time to time. However much it might have been eager to be free, it has also become accustomed to its new environment. So it steps warily out into the world.
We first went to a garden party with a group of friends we haven’t seen for nearly a year. Everyone wanted to know how I was, and universally remarked how well I looked. I’ve always been pale, but I have more colour than normal. My hair is returning, but it is much shorter and I have acquired a beard. We had only planned to stay a couple of hours, but we stayed most of the evening. I felt wary as we arrived, but very much enjoyed the evening.
We have also visited friends in their homes, met them in quiet restaurants and at our home. Everyone understands that I need to avoid infection. A lot of the conversation centres around my treatment. In due course, it will move on.
We’ve declined a trip to Malta in October. The prospect of navigating a busy airport and four hours in a plane with others felt too risky, at least until I have had all my innocculations. However, we are thinking of a trip to Madeira in the spring.
I am treasurer for a mindfulness charity, and slowly I have been getting to grips with that role. A friend has kept my weekly drop in meditation classes running, but I am dipping my toes in the water and doing one a fortnight now.
Overall my fitness is improving, I try to walk three miles a day, and I have started doing some light weights and yoga. I feel stronger, and some flexibility is returning, but it will take time. We haven’t returned to dancing, as that involves too much mixing, but we plan to do that in the new year.
In two weeks I will start venesections to reduce the iron in my body, accumulated over about 30 transfusions. My haemoglobin was 127 at the last test, and it seems to be rising steadily towards normal, and other blood counts are good. I’ve had one mild head cold, which did not last overlong.
Slowly, then, I am venturing out into the world. Each new trip feels strange at first. Slowly though, my condition is not at the forefront of my mind, and it is good to be connecting with people again.
As I come up to my 71st birthday tomorrow, I look back to last year when we celebrated my 70th. I had no idea a year ago that anything was wrong. We had travel plans, and we were very active. A fortnight later I was in hospital with a nosebleed, and life changed suddenly. There were few clues to what would happen, but good fortune and the NHS were on my side, my wife has been amazing at supporting me through all this, and the generosity of my donor and the kindness of all my family and friends have got me here.
There are a few hurdles left, but slowly the focus of life is moving away from dealing with MDS.