We returned to Houston June 15 for appointments at MDACC that day and on the 17th.

On the 15th, we saw the physician assistant for my cardiologist for a followup for various heart tests I had taken previously. He said that my heart shows improvement as a result of the drug (coreg) that I've been taking to counteract the slight damage done by the chemo I had last summer. It's basically an electrical problem that can lead to arrhythmias (and worse, if untreated). In January I tested 45 to 50%, just below normal. Now I'm 50-55%, which is low normal. I believe the percentage represents the percentage of blood expelled from the left ventricle per contraction, but don't quote me.
The second appointment of the day was with my dermatologist, Dr. Duvic. This was the visit we were most worried about, because in the six or seven weeks since we'd last been there, I've had several more lesions appear. Other lesions that had been present at the last visit have faded or disappeared, but we just weren't sure how concerned we should be that new ones were still appearing. Fortunately, the doc says it's not at all unusual for me to still be developing some new lesions. After evaluating me, she said that I was maintaining about the same overall coverage as in April, so not to worry. That was a huge relief for us. She said that my immune system is still very far from being as strong as it can be, so, theoretically, it will be more efficient in the months and years to come in combating the disease.

Tuesday the 16th we had no appointments, so we went to Bayou Bend, the former home of Ima Hogg, daughter of Texas' first native-born governor, Jim Hogg. Interesting family and an interesting and beautiful place.

On the 17th they drew blood and gave me a full pulmonary test. I passed the pulmonary test, and later in the morning I had an appointment with the physician assistant for my bone marrow transplant doctor, who evaluated the blood tests for us. All the news was good. She reinforced Dr. Duvic's assertion that it wasn't unusual to still be cranking out new lesions.

So it was a pretty great visit, really. We'd been very apprehensive, but all our fears were allayed by the tests and the physicians' evaluations.