Shane is an absolute trooper when it comes to BMA's. Essentially, it is a very large needle inserted into the back of the hip to extract bone marrow. This bone marrow undergoes a variety of tests to determine whether there are any Leukaemic cells. This takes about a month analyse.
Usually patients are given medazelam and happy gas. The medaz is an amnesia drug, so instead of being under a general anaesthetic, patients forget what they have been through (one of our friends filmed this once and put it up on FB. You can imagine their surprise when they saw it later!). The happy gas is more for pain relief. Shane has been having these done regularly for the last three years and decided one day that if he didn't have the medaz, he wouldn't need to wait for hours in recovery, and he would be able to drive himself home. This way I didn't have to take time off work to go with him every time.
Its hard to believe that so much time has gone by, and yet, it feels like forever. It is now nine months since Shane relapsed and I am still amazed that the both of us have survived this long. Although, you could say just barely. It has been a very rocky road and there is always a toll at the end of it. This is called the "Fight after the Fight". On appearance things seem to be returning to normal but they are still far from a happy place. This part of the recovery brings about great change as we process our experience and work on "fixing" all the things that can be "fixed". This is the only way we can regain a sense of control of our lives.
The Foot:
Last blog Shane had received three stitches in his foot from a surfing incident. This is improving nicely and so is Shane's surfing! They did decide that a Tetanus shot was alright to give earlier than planned.
The Eye:
The previous blog post discussed the CMV (or virus) in Shane's right eye. This has improved dramatically, but is still present so Shane is still being treated for it. This means he is still cytotoxic and on precautions. This has also caused some haemorrhaging in his eye which will require some laser surgery next week to fix it.
Last week Shane managed to ween off the mycophenolate (immunosuppressant). This is really quite a milestone for Shane. The next few months they will gradually reduce the Tacro until he's off it all completely. Other meds have been gradually reduced also as Shane settles back into normality. Exciting times!
As for lifestyle, there has been no stopping us! Shane has been at the gym regularly as well as surfing most weekends. Today Shane went for a ride with a friend and managed to do 10km. Last weekend he enjoyed a Bucks weekend with the boys and thankfully came home in one piece! When he returned on Sunday he managed to crawl onto the lounge and didn't move for the rest of the day!
Check out the amazing beard!
Shane also had his first haircut today. Looking pretty special for this upcoming wedding...
xx
