9 Years Since My SCT – A Time to Give Thanks!

 11/27/22 – No way… has it really 9 years since I had my stem cell transplant? When I look back, it was the day before Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving Day, my wife and two daughters spent the day with me in the hospital. They brought Thanksgiving dinner to me… sure, I really didn’t have much of appetite…  but what we shared was one of my best Thanksgiving memories. It’s times like these when you realize just how blessed you are and when you look up to God and say Thank You!!!

 Since that day, the blessings have continued. I’ve seen both my daughters get married… I’ve been blessed with two grandchildren… and as I sit here, I can say that the only thing that continues to be a challenge for me is my immune system. I continue to receive my monthly IVIG’s but it has become very apparent that they haven’t produced the results I had been hoping for.

Recently, I seem to get sinus or upper respiratory infections fairly often. This is followed by me going on antibiotics. Throughout the course of antibiotics, I’ll start to feel better… but once I take my last pill, I start to feel sick again. I am up to six consecutive rounds of antibiotics. To add on top of all this, I have had COVID twice this year… in July and in November… and I am up to date with all my boosters.

Of course, I knew that when I started with my IVIG’s that it would be a bit of a process and may require some tweaking. I guess I have to wait and see what my next set of blood tests reveal, which should be sometime after the new year.

Saying all this, for a person who has had MCL 3 time (2008, 2013, 2015) and someone who had a SCT 9 years ago… as I said at the beginning of this post… I am very blessed and I have so much to be thankful for. One of the great things about the anniversary of my SCT is that it always falls close to Thanksgiving. It is a great reminder to me on how thankful I am for all my blessings.

Here is a link to an awesome song the fits well with the Thankful theme of the season. It’s by David Crowder called “Thanks Giver”.

Enjoy!

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxDKchUybN0

“You will be enriched in every way so that you can be generous on every occasion, and through us your generosity will result in thanksgiving to God.” 2 Corinthians 9:11

More to come…

http://mantlecell.blogspot.com