This week, Jack "graduated" to one trip back to Mayo per week! This is great news, but surprisingly not the best news we heard this week. Jack also asked his doctor if he could return to work earlier than she had originally planned, and she agreed! She told us previously that he should not expect to return to work for up 6 months following his transplant, but that it may happen earlier depending on his progress. Since he has done so well, she has given him the approval to go to work 2 days per week for 4-5 hours each day. Jack is excited to go back, even at a reduced schedule. We got one more piece of good new this week- Jack can drive again! Dr. Sproat wants him to drive with others in the car for a few weeks and then he can start going short distances on his own if everything goes well.
It also seems like Jack has developed allergies. Dr. Sproat said that this is very common in post transplant patients. Some doctors think that patients inherit the allergies of their donor, and other doctors think that your body resets after all of the chemo, so you may develop new allergies. Either way, Jack cannot have an allergy screening until after he is off most of his medications, because they will cause the test to be inconclusive. Based on what makes him sneeze and get a runny nose, we think he is allergic to dust and pollen, but he will have a full screening next spring. If/when we get to meet his donor, maybe we can compare their allergies to see if they match up! I'm not sure if I have mentioned this, but we must wait 1 year to meet Jack's donor. She also has to agree that she wants to meet Jack. Before then, neither can know any personal information about each other beyond age, sex, blood type and disease. Hopefully we get to meet her!
That is all of our new information this week! We'll keep updating you as things change and progress.
