Jim’s CaringBridge Update – early March, 2024

Hello everyone...It's been quite a while since I checked in with you all. My last update was in August, 2023...time sure does fly doesn’t it whether you’re having fun just goofing around or recovering from Acute Myeloid Leukemia and a bone marrow transplant? (That’s me.)  There have been a few ups and downs since August but overall, things are going well. As my U.C. Davis Medical Center Oncologist, Dr. Hoeg, says when addressing my "bumps in the road"... "They still happen but they aren't as serious and you get past them quicker.” To me, when I do hit a "bump in the road" it is still quite worrisome and yes, I do get scared.

I continue to be so grateful to my medical team at U.C. Davis Medical Center in Sacramento and the "frontline" here in Ukiah. It is so good to be home, experiencing the winter storms, the coming of spring, the blooming of wildflowers and getting stronger and more independent as the days, weeks and months go by. I can't imagine being without the care I receive from my son, Jamie, and dear friend, Paulette. It has been a long period of isolation for me and getting help from them with shopping, laundry, doctor visits and medication pick-ups etc., has been invaluable. Of course, the well wishes they bring to me from their contacts with friends, family and you reinforce the fact that I am not alone and give me hope and determination to steadily & lovingly keep moving forward in my healing and recovery.

Here are some of the “highlights” of my “bumps in the road” and good recovery news over the past 6 months:

• I was hospitalized for the last 2 weeks of October with difficulty breathing and getting enough oxygen. I started out in the ER at Ukiah Valley Adventist Hospital. Five days later a room finally opened up on the cancer ward at U.C. Davis Medical Center and I got a midnight ambulance ride to Sacramento. After a lot of tests, oxygen monitoring and heavy doses of steroids my breathing finally normalized. We think the cause of my difficulties was “a touch” of Graft Versus Host Disease which had settled in my lungs. I went home with supplemental oxygen but I have not needed it for almost three months now and my blood oxygen levels are normal.
• The one year anniversary of my bone marrow transplant was on December 20, 2023, and I had my 1 year bone marrow biopsy on the same day at UC Davis Medical Center. A couple of weeks later I got the wonderful news from Dr. Hoeg that “I was still all clear,” no cancer was detected.
• In late January, my hemoglobin count dropped precipitously to a dangerous low. I got an early morning call from Dr. Wang, my Ukiah Oncologist, telling me to come to town right away and that he was arranging for me to get a transfusion of 2 units of blood ASAP. It did the trick. Seven hours later I could tell my energy was getting better, I was released from the ER and sent home to recover. We still don’t have an explanation as to why my hemoglobin dropped so low.
• We’ve been monitoring my blood levels weekly since my transfusion and they have been slowly getting better. To help this process along, adjustments have been made to the medications I take that have the side effect of suppressing blood levels. I’m confident that we are on the right track.
• At the beginning of 2024, I was cleared to get my annual Covid, Flu and RSV vaccinations and to get boosters of them when recommended.
• At the end of January I met with Dr. Niyati Narsana, an infectious disease specialist at UC Davis Medical Center. She set up my vaccination schedule so I could begin getting my “baby or childhood vaccines” which is a 3 injection process over a 4 month period for each of my 5 vaccinations including Polio, Pneumonia, HIB and Tdap (Tetanus, Diptheria & Pertussis). I just finished my 1st round of injections, round 2 will be in early April and round 3 will be in early June. I’m waiting to be off of another medication so that I can get my two injection Shingles Vaccine (Shingrix). Hopefully this will happen in the next month or so. My Measles & Mumps vaccinations will have to wait until I am 2 years out from my bone marrow transplant because they are “live” vaccines. I’m on my way though and Dr. Hoeg has told me that I don’t have to isolate as strictly as I have been this past 14 months. Of course, I still need to be very careful and mask-up when in town, avoid large inside gatherings and follow strict hygiene rules re washing hands etc.
• If you want to hear my voice and you don’t feel like calling me, you can tune into my weekly radio show, “Radio Ha Ha For Kids (and Their Families & Friends)” which I broadcast “live” every Sunday from Noon to 1 p.m. on KZYX & Z (www.kzyx.org). Creating my weekly radio show, is a joy and a lifeline for me. You can also listen to “Radio Ha Ha” shows anytime by going to the KZYX Jukebox (jukebox.kzyx.org).
• So, here I am now… I’ve been home living on my land continuously, without hospitalization, since the end of October. Amazing! It’s the first week of March, 2024. Today it’s cold outside but I’m inside with a cozy warm fire and plenty of dry firewood. We had a little snow recently and a lot of wind and rain. I’ve measured over 4 inches of rain in the past 2 to 3 days and we’ve received well over 20 inches of rain since the beginning of the year. It’s a wet winter. The grasses are green, the Buckeye trees are budding and the early wildflowers are coming out in profusion. Among them are my favorite Shooting Stars, as well as Indian Warriors, Toothworts, Buttercups and Scarlet Larkspur. Springtime is on its way and I am happy.