1. Groundhog Day!!
Punxsutawney Phil, the Pennsylvania groundhog, saw his shadow and returned to his underground den, predicting more winter weather ahead.
On Tuesday, I received the okay from my doctor to return to Urbana to continue my recovery. Yippee! So today, Groundhog Day, I will be
returning to Urbana! I am so excited I had to lie down and have a rest, ha, ha!
What does this all mean? Well, I am +74 days from my stem-cell transplant. While although much stronger now and able to drive, I am still extremely vulnerable to infections of all kinds and will be for quite some time. I still need to limit visitors and wear my blue mask when I go into a store, elevator, doctor's office, etc. No cut flowers or plants in the house; so, more roses for everybody else on Valentine's Day!
How does this affect the Lotsa Helping Hands community? We have postponed putting up a calendar for February for a few days until I can come home, get sorted, and figure out more clearly what our family needs are.
I want to thank everyone for all the time, energy, and effort you have made to help our family!
2. The Blue NP150 Mask
Following my four chemotherapy treatments prior to my stem-cell
transplant, my immune system did not have enough neutrophils to fight infection and it took a bit of time to rebuild. During this rebuilding time I was still in the hospital and I would have to wear my blue NP150 mask when I left my room to walk the hall. Now, even though I am
technically not
neutropenic following my stem-cell transplant, I must take
immunosuppressors which make me vulnerable to all sorts of bacteria and viruses. Believe it or not, even though I have a "new" immune system thanks to my wonderful stem-cell donor, I have no immunity to all the childhood diseases that I either once contracted (chicken pox) or had immunizations against (measles). I will get new immunizations at one and two years post transplant. So, when I leave my lovely apartment across the street from the hospital I must wear my blue NP150 mask!
It has been really interesting to see how people react to me and my blue mask. When I am in the elevator people are polite, but they may or may not look at me directly in the eye and may or may not talk to me. Alana assures me that elevator etiquette is always a bit awkward to navigate. This past week, my cousin Jonathan was visiting and we were in the elevator together when a young fellow (I am sure I was old enough to be his mum) sporting a Bradley T-shirt made eye contact and smiled. I asked if he was a student here -- people are usually surprised to hear a voice sounding more like Princess Leia's rather than like Darth Vader's come out from behind the blue mask! -- he said no, he was a local golf-pro and was very chatty making the usually laborious five flights down whiz by. I have since seen him in the elevator this week three times and we continue to chat.
I have been able to drive for a few weeks now and I do go to a grocery store frequently since I can not carry much at any one time. There is a grocery store that I can walk to in the neighborhood and I am there almost everyday because it is on my exercise walking route. They have grown accustomed to me, are always lovely, make eye contact, ask how I am, etc.
I was in a shop on The Hill (the Italian neighborhood) buying some fresh pasta for dinner and a man asked me if the mask was to keep something I had away from him or germs away from me. I thought that was a good question and I assured him it was to keep germs away from me. He thought that was a good idea and wondered why we all don't wear masks, like in Japan.
Now children, who are so incredibly observant and honest, are another story. Depending on the age of the child the reaction varies. Infants and toddlers usually burst into tears and try to wiggle out of the seat in the cart while their caregiver's, who are facing the opposite direction, take several minutes to figure out what is wrong and by that time I have moved from the citrus isle to the apple isle out of range of the child's vision leaving the caregiver perturbed at best.
Children who are older are often just curious. They look at me and ask their caregiver why I have a mask on. The answers range from "She just had an operation", to "She must not feel that well." In these instances we are usually pushing carts in opposite directions and our eyes meet only briefly. One little boy of note was pushing his own mini-cart and his mum and I were leaning over the same bin picking out melons. He asked his mum while looking at me why I have a mask on and because we were both facing him and the same distance from him I began to answer that I just had a stem-cell transplant and that I had to protect myself from germs. The boy declared that he hoped he would never get so sick that he would have to wear a mask. I wholeheartedly agreed, started to tear up (the mask does not cover my eyes of course) and moved on to the tomato bin.
So Urbana-Champaign - the Blue Mask is coming to town!
