We've mostly been hunkered down over the past few weeks. Tim is still struggling with nausea and lack of appetite, as well as pain in his abdomen. He’s due to start chemo on Friday after being off chemo for over a year and a half. Tim has enjoyed being off chemo, and now we're both anxious about his starting back on chemo. This is an older chemo with significant side-effects including neuropathy in the hands and feet along with increased nausea, digestive upsets and hair loss (again!).

Paul's nausea is decreasing, and he's hoping it will go away completely. Paul's hair is finally starting to grow back, and his beard is pretty much back to what it was. Unfortunately, it seems like his parapsoriasis -- a condition he developed prior to his multiple myeloma -- has returned Parapsoriasis is fairly rare, and isn’t related to the more common condition of psoriasis. It can develop into lymphoma if left untreated. Paul will see his dermatologist to confirm what’s going on, and decide on a treatment. The previous treatment was either to lay out in the sun without any sunscreen or go into a UV "Lightbox" at Kaiser. However, Stanford cautions all post-transplant patients like Paul not to expose himself to the sun without heavy-duty sunscreen. Hence, the dilemma.

Tim has been doing a little more gardening when he can. Because of his compromised immune system post-transplant, Paul still can’t do any gardening for another 2 months. But, we have managed to work out a system of what Paul can do to help without technically "gardening."

Fairy Lantern (Calochortus albus)