Back to the Doctor

Hi, folks!

Happy spring to you all, and thanks for checking in here. Kristina really appreciates it and loves hearing from folks (hint, hint).

So her recent troubles with a loss of appetite -- and therefore an overall loss of weight and energy -- have continued to the point that she's scheduled to see a doctor on Monday the 24th. They're going to do an endoscopic procedure, which basically means sticking a camera down her throat to see what's up. She has to get knocked out for this to happen.

What she's hoping they won't find is Graft Versus Host Disease, which is a fairly common reaction to a transplant. What GVH amounts to is the immune system of the transplanted cells attacking her body, thinking it's an invader. A backwards distortion of a healthy system, and one than can cause a lot of problems.

If her current troubles are GVH, then it's back onto the steroids, which she would not be happy about. Steroids (specifically prednizone) make her anxious, mess with her vision, make her urinate a lot more than usual, and make her gain weight. Not fun.

So what we're hoping is that she's just dealing with some stress (the insurance problem is still around) rather than something chronic that will require medication. So it's positive-vibe time again!

Meanwhile, she's only seeing her doctor once a week, in addition to a support group for post-transplant patients, so in that sense she is progressing. She just needs to get this ... whatever it is ... straightened out so she can get back to eating and move towards a more normal life.

Thanks again for checking in, and for gosh sakes, give her a call!