I came to do a very brief update, as people are asking, and am stunned by the massacre in El Paso. I think of how hard I’ve struggled to stay alive this year, and here are these poor people who were going to Walmart to simply to buy school supplies and were gunned down, lives ended, because of the color of their skin and nationality. This country is in need of a great and sincere repentance from the hate-talkers and bigots, especially those in high places.
With that said, I have been home for 17 days already. I wish I could say that things were going hunky-dory, but honestly, it has been a struggle. I was feeling a lot better (with 70% of my energy) when I first got home. I walked 5 miles a day for the first few days, but now . . . I couldn’t mud-wrestle a 200-year-old milquetoast. I am still trying to walk two miles a day and kayak two miles. Several have offered to be my walking partner and I appreciate that. But, I’ve also had a long list of other troublesome symptoms that is still blunting any attempts at some quality of life.
Now, if there is a silver-lining (and it is too early to tell), it is the fact that I was on very high dose steroids for three weeks (which can cause a lot of the symptoms) and now I’m on a prolonged taper. I had to do that because I developed complications from my stem cell transplant of Host Vs Graft Syndrome (which can be life-threatening without the steroids). Tomorrow, I move down to 10 MG of prednisone (after starting at 75 MG 5 weeks ago) for 5 days, then 5 MG for 5 days and then I’m off. So, both the earlier high dose can cause some of the problems I’m having as can the tapering process. We will not know until I’m off or even after I’ve been off for several weeks. That is my hope and prayer that I will feel better then.
I have strict orders to avoid crowds, especially indoor crowds, until December because of the frailty of my immune system. Tomorrow, however, my church is having an outdoor service and I will attempt to go. About half the days I’m too ill to leave the house until the afternoon, so we will see what happens in the morning. Even in the outdoor space, I can’t have physical contact (such as shaking hands or hugs) with other people, so that will be awkward. I hope to see some of you tomorrow and do a lot of waving 
. Mike
J. Michael Jones 
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