This month

January Wolf Kahn oil

God willing and the creeks don't rise, I will celebrate my sixth birthday at the end of the month (Jan. 31).

So I will be 6 while I am 60. An interesting confluence.

I have a break in regular checkups, but I still have two appointments. One is at Dana-Farber in two weeks to see a new dermatologist who will check out an increase in the graft vs. host disease on my skin. I am already applying a steroid ointment so I'm unsure what else there is to do other than increase prednisone, which is the opposite of what I am doing, but I will see what she says.

Also I need to schedule another therapeutic phlebotomy to keep chipping away at that ferritin level.

New Year's resolution, in addition to trying to like almond milk and kale, is to look more closely at the causes of the sleepiness that hits me when I am driving and that necessitates my pulling over for a 15-minute nap. I am full of energy and it only happens in the car, which is a cause for concern on many levels.

A friend with sleep apnea suggested that even though I don't fit the profile, I should look into a sleep study. But first I am going to ask Melissa to help me look into my meds, because several list dizziness and fatigue as side effects.

 "A Delicate Balance," the title of the Edward Albee play on Broadway, is about the balance of relationships among people, but it can also describe the balance of meds in a person's system.

I want to know: Where can I cut down to the lowest level and still achieve the benefits?

Because yesterday was my first day down to 1 milligram on prednisone, I probably won't do anything for a month.

Next up might be a closer look at gabapentin, which I take for the neuropathy in my feet. But alas, when you look up side effects of this drug, you also come upon gabapentin withdrawal symptoms, which sound worse than the side effects themselves. And like any other drug, it is worse the longer you have taken it, which for me is a long time, i.e. basically the whole six years.