“ONE OF THESE DAYS, AN INFECTION IS GOING TO KILL YOU, KEN.”
— Francisco Javier Bolanos Meade, M.D., Johns Hopkins
It’s been over two years since I was diagnosed with Stage 4 Mantle Cell Lymphoma. This June will be the first anniversary of my Bone Marrow Transplant at Johns Hopkins Baltimore.
While I’ve beaten the odds that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) gave me last December, my immune system remains severely suppressed. Just in the past few months, I’ve been hospitalized twice for pneumonia and sepsis. It is thanks to Victoria that I am still here today… between my cancer and two recent bouts of septic shock, I doubt I would have been so fortunate or alive if left to my own devices.
So it’s becoming apparent that bone marrow graft is still straining to produce blood products, especially when getting knocked down with each infection or medical event I battle.
After discussing my situation with Victoria, Dr. Dogra (Kaiser), Dr. Nguyen (Kaiser), and Dr. Meade (Hopkins), I am going to need to wear my medical ID bracelet at all times and carry a medical precautions bag with a cloth N99 mask, two disposable N99 masks, Purell, SPF50 shirts and head coverings, and to be FAR MORE MINDFUL of the people and situations around me.
This is becoming my new reality… I need to be mindful, to be vigilant, to stay protected, and to know that my immune system is so weak that my next infection is deadly dangerous to me.
