This is the one hundred and twenty-fifth in a series of DAILY NANCY UPDATES I have posted-- now celebrating the fact that even though her post bone marrow transplant and brain seizure recovery continues... the amazing Nancy Neufeld Callaway is in remission and we have kicked her leukemia on its ass.
If you'd like to be automatically notified of updates to this blog-- just enter your email address in the window on the right beneath Nancy's picture, click SUBMIT, and follow the prompts!
WEDNESDAY REPORT
Sorry for the radio silence. But we've all been busy trying to get our feet back onto firm ground.
Especially the Sunshiny Superwarrior Goddess.
Fortunately, Nancy's after-care appointments are becoming fewer and further between. We're now only going back to City of Hope for follow-up tests every two weeks. Soon, that will scale back to once a month. Her numbers are all strong-- which has also resulted in her various anti-rejection medications being gradually lowered. Her eyes have been bugging her quite a bit-- constantly running at all hours of the day. But after repeated trips to multiple opthalmologists-- it thankfully doesn't seem to be caused by any kind of bone marrow transplant related infection. Rather, her symptoms are the typical side effects of heavy chemotherapy and radiation. The surface of her eyes have become dry-- which causes her tear ducts to overcompensate. So even though it seems counter-intuitive, Nancy has to keep adding drops to her eyes all day. It annoys the hell out of her-- and often makes her look sad when she isn't-- but we're hopeful that the situation will resolve itself sooner than later.
Nancy's also doggedly working to recover from her officially diagnosed anterograde (short term) and retrograde (long term) amnesia caused by the brain seizures she suffered in late June. Fortunately, all of the other high functioning areas of her brain-- IQ, verbal skills, creativity-- are still firing on all cylinders. But the patchy memory issues she's been struggling with are a constant source of frustration for her.
Nevertheless, her doctors all remain supremely confident that none of the damage done was permanent or degenerative. It just requires time and patience.
In the meantime, she's starting to write again. Play the piano. Take control of her schedule. And she's exercising more and more, slowly but surely rebuilding muscle and regaining strength.
In short, the SSWG is working extremely hard to construct a new and improved version of herself. And all of us genuinely appreciate your good vibes, thoughts, and healing prayers in the process.
WE LOVE NANCY, and...
ALL IS WELL!
