Update on my Leg‏

Yesterday after much prompting from p (two days) I e-mailed Dr. L and said I had been having trouble breathing so had increased my prednisone from 10 mg to 30 a day. I also said that my leg was still bleeding/oozing through the dressing and should I be worried about that. He said the prednisone was what he would do and to run with it. Then he suggested I might want to come in to see the wound nurse. Who would have thought there would be a wound nurse?So we came in this morning. Accidentally slept in til 7 because alarm didn't go off. The nurse's name is Pamela and she was really nice. She has a good poker face too. All she said was something to the effect of "oh my". Dr. L was more dramatic! He said something to the effect of "oh my god!". The frown was somethong to behold. Then he said "and you wanted to wait?"They all agreed except for Pamela that amputation of the leg at the neck was necessary!Pamela said that my leg wasn't healing properly. It was trying to scab over but was necrotizing. She said she would need to remove the black/yellow tissue and would use a silver gel as antimicrobial and to promote healing. She walked p thru the procedure. She also had to use a razor to scrape the top so that the gel could get through. I couldn't feel it which was good. They are also setting me up for home health care which will be good because among other things it means supplies for the dressings are included. They were starting to get pricey. So that is an unexpected benefit. So I will probably see the nurse once a week - hopefully they can come on the weekend - and he/she will change the dressing then and assess. I am supposed to watch for increased pain, fever or red streaks up the leg as that would be a sign of infection. Pamela said it will probably still bleed thru the dressing as they are trying to liquefy the necrotizing tissue. I might notice an odour as well. Hope not. Part of the dressing is a gel/liquid to protect the good dkin on the edges of the wound. She measured it as well. It is 7 across and 4 up/down. Can't remember right now if imperial or metric.Then I talked to Dr. L again to say that i've been getting more headaches. So as I compose this I am sitting in a waiting room waiting to have another CT scan done of my head. Dr. L said there can be delayed bleeding - even though the CT scan done in emerg at the time of the fall was clear. Hopefully it will be clear again. I also asked him if he thought I might have a concussion and he said it is really hard to tell. He also checked my eyes with a light and tested my tracking of a finger ib front of my face. Assume I passed! Didn't confuse left from right at least.So another morning off work. Hoping that HR won't insist on WCB paying for it. I had asked/told my boss that I would use my lieu time and he was fine with that. However I think I need to report to HR that I went in for follow-up just in case. I don't plan on taking any time off other then what I have to for medical follow-up. After this will probably grab lunch at Druxy's before heading up to work.Long days like this r so tiring.Saturday I am scheduled for IV-IVG and the YBR crew are supposed to come for supper except C came home from work sick this morning. I hope he is ok - not just because I want to see them but because it is miserable to be sick. Get better C!

Smokes - Sept 9 2003 - Feb 20 2009‏

Smokes died Friday night. We had been at a friends place in Toronto for dinner and got home late. When p went upstairs he found him I think he waited until he heard us come home because we could tell it had happened recently. He was a smart little guy. His teeth kept growing too long and he would let us know when it was time to go to the vet to trim them by running towards one of us and chattering his teeth loudly at us. I will miss him a lot. Smokes, hope you are having fun across the bridge with all those who have gone before you.

16 Years‏

Today is the anniversary of my diagnosis with CML. Chronic myelogenous leukemia. It's been 16 years and there have been so many bumps and lifts and love and learning along the way. I spent the weekend at this time in 1993 in the hospital in Brampton. It was Peel Memorial then, now the William Osler Health Centre (I think). It was notorious in Brampton for being an awful hospital but I have no complaints - even despite the way the nurse in emerg blurted out oh you're the one with leukemia. And I didn't know at that point. That's where I met Shirley who was my room mate and made friends. That's where I had a surfeit of peanut butter & smartie blizzards because there is a DQ just down the street and my mum was determined to feed me to make me put weight back on I guess! And take out from the Olive Garden - also relatively near by.And jen's reaction when I called to tell her. She said: "F@&k off". I don't blame her. I wouldn't have believed it either. I didn't believe it - should have known from all the hints Dr. Goldberg was giving when I spoke with him that day on the phone. He had called me to say there were some issues with my bloodwork and he needed me to come into the hospital for some more tests. And the real drag of that weekend - other then being told I had leukemia, CANCER - was that I had tickets to go see a taping of Kids in the Hall. Yes, that's right, I didn't get to go. But my substitute got me a t-shirt as a consolation prize. Reminds me a little of Deb - a friend from the BMT list - she had to miss being on Wheel of Fortune. Except that she later did get to go and compete on the show. Anyway, here I am 16 years later. And there have been many good things and people holding me up along the way. And I just want to say thank you to you all because you have all been there at different times and in different ways and you have all kept me on my feet through difficult and interesting times.