Kristy took off 12 weeks and after that I will step in and be 'mum' when she is working. The kids love her and are at a great age to enjoy and care for her, it is fun to watch them with her.
Our family of 4 is now five... plus Clara the dog! Life is changing for the better and not just because of Charlotte. I am feeling 'normal' which is something I have longed for for quite some time.
I still have chronic GVHD in my mouth. It has also turned up in my eyes, and on my hands and feet. None of this is much of a problem at the moment...my hands and feet are getting better and I have dry eyes. My mouth is the worst of my symptoms, as my gums have receded and I have developed a couple of mouth sores.
Generally I feel good, I'm doing a bit of running, walking the dog and lots of cutting the lawn... I have also starting working recently as a phlebotomist in a local hospital and am really enjoying it and getting better. For the past 5 years, I have been the one being stuck for blood tests, IVs, etc and now I have the opportunity to make things a little easier for someone in similar shoes. The world doesn't need another mediocre phlebotomist, so I hope to be a very good one.
About 3 months ago my Kappa Light Chain numbers (cancer markers) started to go up slightly, first they were 2, a month later they doubled to 4. At that point I asked for a bone marrow biopsy to check what was happening. It came back completely clean so we think the rise in KLC numbers could have been because of the chronic GVHD. I am having this number checked every month and the following month the number decreased by 0.17, not a lot but headed in the right direction. I will have the number checked this coming Tuesday so we shall see. I am hoping the number continues to go down.
