Gone Fishin'

Well, the docs kicked the steroids and immunosuppressants up a notch and that damped down the rash and improved Joe's energy level. There's no other evidence of GVHD from all the tests they put Joe through recently. We need to be on guard for guerrilla war tactics of Joe's little army of cells sneaking out of the bushes to fight the donor cells for territory as we go through the tapering process.

But, we'll fight this with meds, food, wine, comedy and camping. We enjoyed a truly splendid dinner with friends at a local restaurant this week. Joe's cooking up chicken with fresh ingredients he bought at the market today.

In this entry, I'd like to announce that I will NOT be running for president and Joe's Gathering Blog will be going on indefinite sabbatical. There's a lot of research to be done in the realm of medieval warfare and art history, so we'll be focusing on that, not to mention hanging out at the neighborhood pool.

Thank-you for all your support, positive thoughts, and medicinal silliness. Keep it coming. You know where to find us, both electronically and in the real world. Drop us a line anytime.

Have a great summer!
Cheers!

Not the End of the World

Joe got some more tests and we've got another appointment this week. The rash has returned :-( but it's not the end of the world http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hJQ18S6aag&feature=youtu.be

Our Lady of Fa-tee-gue

Oh, sorry, that's Our Lady of Fatima. But, this fatigue (or FA-TEE-GUE as my dad used to say) is for the birds. That's basically what we told the doc this week. He prescribed some "topical" steroids that are taken internally, believe it or not, since he doesn't want to increase the systemic steroids that we're trying to taper, taper, taper. If this doesn't help, we'll do some extra tests. Joe still looks good on paper, which is a good thing. Other good things include the occasional sunshine we're getting in between the clouds and rain showers and the neighbor's beautiful pink weeping cherry tree. Come on Spring! You can do it!