I had a bit of a bad day yesterday, which started out perfectly normal. About an hour after eating lunch, I started to get that familiar feeling that screams food poisoning. I haven't really suffered with food poisoning since my initial diagnosis, but when you've been through it once, you can't forget the feeling. I became nauseated and my stomach was twisting itself into acidic knots. After everything that I've been through, I've developed an aversion to throwing up. I'd rather suffer through managing nausea. Call me a glutton.

By the time Chris got home from work, I was feeling a little better, but the ever present churning feeling was still with me. He suggested that I might feel better if I just let go and vomited. I knew he was right and after hours of minor misery I realized that I was just being stupid. I did the deed and immediately felt 100% better.

I think Chris felt better, too, since he was able to rule out something more nefarious. My temperature remained stable for the rest of the night and I'm feeling like myself today. Sometimes a thing is what it is and no amount of worrying can build it up into something it's not.

Coincidentally, I had my doctor's appointment moved up a week. I'd just rather get it out of the way so I can dedicate the week after next to getting all things house related done. Fourteen days and counting.

Coincidences

Chris and I had an interesting conversation last night concerning my upcoming doctor's visit and its overall timing. Those that have been following the blog know that the past two times we've tried to buy a house, something monumental has happened concerning my health. After we made an offer on the first house, I was diagnosed with PTLD and had to return to MDA for treatment immediately. Six months later, we tried again and the day we were scheduled to close on that house, I was sitting in a hospital room being told that the leukemia was back.

It's eight months later and Chris and I find ourselves back in the middle of a familiar process. The current house's seller has agreed to our repairs request and I've started securing home owner's insurance. A lot of the same people who have been involved with the last two sales are currently involved with this one. We're tentatively scheduled to close in sixteen days. I say tentatively because all parties have agreed to an earlier closing date if the financing can be secured sooner than scheduled.

This all leads me back to the doctor's appointment. I'm scheduled to see my local doctor the week of closing. Three days earlier, to be matter of fact. Chris and I both wondered if I should just move the appointment up a week to get it out of the way. It's just a routine visit to check my blood work and overall condition. Only, with my track record it could turn into something else. I know to think that is irrational, but after you touch a hot stove once, you tend to shy away from such things.

I feel well and haven't had any fevers. My appetite is good and I've even gained a pound this week. I haven't had any mysterious coughs or unexplained sore throats. The fact that I'm completely asymptomatic of anything still doesn't put my mind at ease. I keep waiting for the proverbial shoe to drop.

I've also been harboring a bit of anxiety the last few weeks over the relapses of two friends. Patricia and Michelle have both had transplants, just like me. Anyone who has ever danced with blood cancer, whether as a patient or loved one, knows the anxiety that the word "relapse" evokes. They both have their game faces on and are moving forward with treatments. I've been down that road and know that you can come out the other side smiling, but it's one hell of a trip.

All of these worries have been percolating and sloshing around for days and taking their toll. I'm not sure if I will move that doctor's appointment up or not. I do know that I can only control certain things in my life and as for the things I can't, I just need to accept it and let it go. Maybe all of the previous illnesses coinciding with our trying to buy a house have been coincidences. I don't know and now that I've purged my mind of it, I'm not going to let it worry me.

Donor drive in Cleveland

If you're in the Cleveland area, please consider taking the time to go and donate. The following information is from The Gift of Life website.

Cleveland 1,000 Donor Drive

Two year old Eve is an adorable little girl. Like any parent, Eve’s mom and dad envisioned a bright and promising future for their daughter. Then disaster struck: Eve was diagnosed with acute leukemia. A bone marrow transplant can save Eve’s life, but she currently does not have a matching donor, and time is of the essence.

Eve is not alone. It is reported that one in 200 Americans will receive a transplant with marrow, blood stem cells or cord blood in their lifetime. One in 400 will require cells from another person (a donor). Only 30 percent of patients have a relative who is a match. The rest must search the unrelated donor pool. There is an urgent need to grow the registry of potential donors so that all patients like Eve can have an equal opportunity to receive the transplant they so desperately need.

Gift of Life will be hosting a donor recruitment drive at the Beachwood Mandel JCC, 26001 S. Woodland Rd in Beachwood, Ohio on Sunday, May 17 from 9am – 3pm and Monday, May 18 from 6:30pm – 8:30pm.

You can find out if you are a match for Eve and countless other children and adults by joining Gift of Life, an affiliate of the National Marrow Donor Program and the worldwide donor registry. Testing is fast and painless, involving only a simple cheek swab. Eligible donors must be between the ages of 18 – 60 and in general good health. The goal for this drive is 1,000 new donors. Since tissue type is inherited, like eye or hair color, Eve’s best chance of finding a genetic match lies with donors of Eastern European Jewish descent.

A family friend wrote, “We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for responding to this urgent call. And so does Eve, whose courage, humor, and unsinkable spirit – even at 2 ½ years old – are an inspiration to all who are lucky enough to know her.”

More House News

It's been almost a week and we're slowly sliding toward our end goal of once again being home owners. Chris and I are waiting for the seller's response to our repairs request. I promise, we kept it sane and only asked for the "major" things that really should be operational before you move into a place. Remember, Chris is an engineer and I'm a construction nut so there are certain things that we tend to focus on. Minor cosmetic things, I could care less about. I'll get to those things in due time. We should know something by tomorrow night, I hope. Right now, I think we're trying to beat the "curse of the home purchase".

There are eighteen days until we potentially close. This is house number three in two years. I'm sincerely hoping to break this weird cancer streak once and for all and move forward with our lives. I've already put together a long range plan for home improvements. It's giving Chris a nervous twitch, as he believes he'll be spending every available weekend either on a ladder or holding a power tool. You should have seen his face when I told him that I'd come up with a landscaping plan for the back yard. He is not an outdoors kind of guy and whenever I wanted to do anything remotely green at the last house, I was mostly alone. Don't get a bad impression of the love and light of my life. He gladly suffered many hours at local nurseries while I dithered over which plant would do best in our shady little garden. He happily carried bags of soil and mulch. He could even be counted on to dig the really big holes when I needed him, but the minute it looked like I could be self sufficient, he was in the house like a shot.

Trust me, I have my share of "honey-don't" chores. When he tiled the kitchen floor, I couldn't get away fast enough. I can't stand the feel of mastic on my hands and I swear that I can hear the sand in grout as it scrapes across stone. The sound makes my teeth itch.

Lucky for Chris, I still can't be out in the sun for extended periods of time and the small backyard of our potential new house is riddled with mature trees. You literally cannot take five steps without running into one. They're right on top of the house and will eventually need to be removed before the root systems start to wreak havoc on the concrete slab. That's a project that calls for a professional and can wait on a distant day.

The landscaping in front of the house is a bit slap-dash and relies heavily on evergreen shrubs. The plants are all mature, so I'm guessing the house's original owners get credit there. That's another project that will have to wait until I'm healthy enough to tackle it. As it stands, I can just lift twenty pounds, so I can't imagine the effort it's going to take to relocate a twelve year old sago palm.

On the health front, I've been managing to stay fever free. I still have small patches of GvHD on my arms and torso. My new immune system seems focused on my skin. It seems to constantly itch in shifts. Some days it's minor and confined to a small area. Yesterday, I was scratching from head to toe all day long. My local doctor offered me something to help, but I demurred. Right now, I'm just happy to know that the donor cells are doing something. I can bear the itching, so long as I'm getting a GvL response. If the itching becomes unbearable, I'll give in and take an anti-histamine, but for right now, I'm enjoying the little inconvenience. It lets me know that I'll get to be here for another day.

House--part 3

I just got back from having the potential new home inspected and I'm wiped out. I'm still finding the boundaries of what I can and cannot do. I never really know how I'm going to be effected by something until I do it. Three hours of walking around and sitting in a strange house apparently takes the mickey out of me.

I got to the house early and within minutes, Kary, our home inspector arrived. I'd met him once before when we made an offer on the last house. He was an absolute pleasure to work with then and I wasn't disappointed this time, either. We talked shop the first time we met and he's the kind of guy that will invite you to tag along while he's working and explain to you what he's doing. Believe me, not all home inspectors will do that. Lucky for him, I was recovering from the first transplant, or I would have taken him up on it.

He was a building contractor for 17 years before he switched careers, so I had fun picking his brain about how things get put together and the crazy things some people do. The last time he worked with us he learned of our situation with the leukemia and the transplant. It's been so long since I saw him last, I was sure that he would have forgotten us. Not so. He asked what happened with the last house and I caught him up on the last eight months.

Just like Angela, my realtor, Kary, who owns At Ease Home Inspections, LLC, is an absolute doll to work with. He's always patient with us as Chris and I pepper him with questions about houses and systems in general. He's thorough and most of all, he's considerate. He takes the time to explain each item as he comes across it and if you're not clear on it, he'll take you through the issue until you understand it. I've dealt with other home inspectors and this isn't always the case. I've been brushed off or told that "it would be in the report." Kary's not like that. For lack of a better description, he's just a really good guy and we all know the world could use a few more of those.

So, if you've been keeping up with the blog, you already know that I love Angela Jordan at ERA/Stirling. Now you know how invaluable I believe Kary at At Ease Home Inspections is. Yes, I know this looks like one giant advertisement, but they've been very good to Chris and me. After having been in the service industry for so long, customer service and an overall trust for an individual are very important to me. They both have my trust and appreciation for the great job they do.

I should have an electronic copy of the inspection tonight. There were a few deferred maintenance issues and one or two crazy surprises. Not crazy in the sense that there's a fully rebuilt car in the attic, but strange enough that it made me wonder what previous owners must have been thinking. Chris and I will review the report tonight and make a few decisions. Net/net, so long as the current owner is willing to work with us on the big stuff, I don't foresee any insurmountable problems. The small, nit-picky things, I can live with. A little paint, a bit of caulk, and a dab of gorilla glue can do wonders.

Once we get over this hurdle and the loan paperwork looks good, I promise to post pictures of the house.

House update

I confirmed an appointment to have the house inspected this week. Slowly, but surely, we're creeping toward resuming living in the "real" world. Please cross your fingers that there are no alien swarms lurking in the attic, or jabberwockies in the linen closets. I'll settle for the mundane little fixes that Chris and I can tackle with a five minute trip to the hardware store and an hour long debate on which of us has the better solution. :)

House

Lea, I promise pictures will be forthcoming. I just don't want to jinx anything. :)