Greetings from Bures! After the very successful stem cells graft I had 2 years ago, I became “young again” :-)! (Thank you my kind graft doctor at Saint Antoine, my donor, my family, my friends!).

So I am planing for a new carriere, since I cannot do chemistry anymore: I would like to become a pastrycook! The kinds of sweet things I can do are very limited at this time, but I am thinking of taking class in pastry-making!

Below is samples of what I can produce now: carrots cake, banana bread, cherries batter pudding, sourdough bread, jams…

The problem is that if I make too many cakes and eat them, I will become diabetic, ah ah! So I need to give them away ;-)!

And to put an end to my carriere in Chemistry, I would like to share with you some photos of my former labs…

Before my former lab in Curie became unreachable (“Pavillon des sources” locked for good), I took some photos to keep memory of where I worked for around 20 years…

Here is a video of the lab:

Also, here are photos of the hood where I used to work during my visits to Dave’s lab in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Colorado-Boulder. Thank you Eva for “saving it” during the times I was back in Curie!

As my daughter used to tell me: chemistry is not everything in life :-)!

Take care and enjoy life!

With love…

Today, I would like to share with you my personal collection of Saint Antoine’s statues. It all began a little more than two years ago, when I started to visit frequently the Saint Antoine hospital. I started to take photos of the statues each time I met one, on visiting churches or cathedrales. When possible, and following a well established tradition in the family, I lighted a candle too!

With time, everybody in the family and also friends became aware of my passion for this guy ;-)! This way, I received many more photos of him, either from France but also from abroad!

Of course, I will continue my quest for more statues. At some point, I will have to go to visit Padova and Saint Antoine’s grave there! (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Padoue).

But making jokes about Saint Antoine does not prevent me to remember that if I can make those jokes it is because of the wonderful people of the hematology department at Saint Antoine hospital: my kind personal graft doctor and the other doctors and nurses. I don’t forget the nurses/good friends of the photopheresis! Of course nothing would have been possible without my stem cells donor I will never know. And of my family and friends too! I love you all so much!

Take care and enjoy life!

Today, I went to the Saint Antoine hospital for my last photopheresis…

I started the treatment on June 2017, and had around 23 rounds of photopheresis.

It was mixed feelings. Of course, I was happy with the success of “the experiment” (GvH is gone, maybe with the help of ciclosporine), but a little sad, as I will not meet so often my nurses, who with time had become more and more my friends. This morning, when I started to talk with her, we could see tears in our eyes. I promised that whenever I will come to Saint Antoine for the regular apointments with my nice graft doctor, I will stop by to say hello.

But it is also a step forward to a full recovery, a “small step” but in the right direction!

The speedy recovery I am enjoying results from the outstanding quality of the team at Saint Antoine. (doctors, with a special thank to my graft doctor, doctors and nurses from the 4th floor, doctors and nurses from the day hospital, nurses from the photopheresis, all the other people I had the chance to meet like my “graft nurse”,…). I will never forget them. They saved my life, together with my graft donor, my wonderful family and my friends. I love you all!

However, it is not yet the end of the story! I am still on the boat, which picked me when I landed on the sea. A few months to go…

To be continued!

Trying to become real canadians….

Paris suburb starts to look more like the south…. oleander in our garden!

And now some music….

Today, I had my first apointment of the week to an hospital: dermatology at Tenon hospital. It was a “follow up” exam, to check if everything was Ok regarding the carcinoma which was treated by dynamic phototherapy a few months ago.My doctor was happy with the results!

On the other hand, I had for some days a “strange feeling” in the mouth, which remembered me of the GvH I had before. I was not sure the GvH was not making its come back… According to my doctor, not this time! Yes!

Now the not so good news (but not too bad either!): on looking at “the first carcinoma I had a while ago, and which has been treated by phototherapy, my doctor told me that this carcinoma was making a come back! This time we will try at first to treat it with a special cream. This is usually very efficient, but it can hurt: burning, scratching,… It will last 6 weeks. Yes, a new experiment! So happy!

Speaking about another subject: last week, I completed my 3rd stain glass project. Here are some photos related to this:

I am looking forward for a new project!

Of course, my new “good health” is thanks to the fantastic team at the Saint Antoine hospital, and in particular my kind graft doctor, my anonymous donor, my family and my friends, and to the doctors at the Tenon department of dermatology.

It is not yet the end of the adventure… Stay tuned :-)!

Take care and enjoy life!

I really love you all :-)!

And for the ones who are not yet fed up of MDS, please have a look at:

http://www.youandmds.com/en-mds/home

The last time I met with my kind graft doctor, she concluded the apointment by saying that my immune system was now strong enough and that I did not need antibiotics! So happy!

Ten days later, I started to cough and with the passing days, I started to have some fever… I went to visit my family doctor: rhinopharyngitis.

As she was afraid that I might end up with a lung infection, she gave me, yes, antibiotics!

I was so sorry. I hope I will not upset my graft doctor… Clearly, I am not Superman ah ah!

Anyway, it was time for us to go to Normandy- Cotentin for a few days of “vacations”…

Wonderful weather, nice guests both at the B and B, and the hotel, long walks along the sea, several churches and cathedrales searchs to find statues of my good friend St Antoine,… Here are some photos taken during the trip…

Take care and enjoy life!

I love you!

Two years ago, when I left room 426 after a month “in confinement”, I was skinny and bald. As my son in law pointed out, I looked like “Mister Clean” ;-)!

Two years later, I am haired and with my “love handles” back in place!

What a change!

Today, I would like to share with you “a letter” which was given to me a few days ago by Laura, from our lab. This letter was written centuries ago by Epicure, a greck philosopher. It is called “Lettre à Ménécée”. You can find it (in French) at:

Click to access Lettre-à-Ménécée.pdf

(http://www.epicurus.net/en/menoeceus.html)

I hope you will like it…. maybe you will become “un épicurien” as we say in French…

Today, I am kind of “sentimental”, so I would like to share with you this song by Jacques Brel:

Take care and enjoy life :-)!

I love you all!

On tuesday June 26, two years after the graft, I had an apointment with my kind graft doctor at Saint Antoine. For this anniversary, I had to go through several exams: full blood analysis (remember the fainting guy a few weeks ago?),  a myelogram and a respiratory check. I was not really anxious regarding the results, as I knew that if something wrong had appeared in the analysis, I should have been contacted by my doctor.

The first sentence of my graft doctor was ” the results are perfect”: yes! She went through all the results, explaining us that my immune system was working well, my red and white cells counts were top, as well as the platelets. Myelogram was good too (no blast seen). Chimerism was perfect too, nothing left of “me”. in the bone marrow!

Then my clever graft doctor concluded (she knows that I am always looking forward for this): it is time to lower again the ciclosporine (from 20mg twice a day to 10mg twice a day). And she added: you don’t need anymore antibiotics; also no need for extra vitamins; I remove also the stuff you take to protect the liver. Also, you have photopheresis each month: have two more (monday july 2d, and one in august) and then you will be free!

I was close to cry (or/and make a big hug to my very kind graft doctor)!

On April 26th 2016, when I started this blog, the first paper I wrote was called: from the Earth to the Moon and back: on my way to a cure for MDS. In october 10th, 2017, it was: on the way back from the Moon; in april 28, 2018, I was orbiting around Earth. Today, I landed on Earth!

I decided to come back on the Earth, “landing” in the ocean (see the photo above). For the ones who know me, it would not be a surprise: I love water ;-)! In fact, it is just because it will take some more time to be rescued: in a few months, I will be free of ciclosporine and, I guess, also free of antiviral. At this time I will be “in remission”: ppmhk will be back ;-)! But not exactly the same: half of me will be “a girl”!

Also, there are some funny things I experience every day: “before” I was kind of not sensitive to mosquito bites (well maybe not the mosquitoes we find in Canada ah ah!). Now, each time I get bitten by a mosquito, I react strongly: red and swollen! My doctor explained that it is not uncommon  to see this kind of change after an allograft: “my” immune system is not any more “mine”. It is the one of my wonderful donor! So maybe she is sensitive to this… Also I might also develop some news allergies… I wish I will never become allergic to chocolate :-)!

If I am there today, saying stupid things, it is because I had the chance to meet a fantastic team of doctors, my wonderful graft doctor, nurses and other people at the Saint Antoine Hospital. Of course my anonymous stem cells donor was the key for this fast recovery: it is kind of disturbing for me to have a big part of “me” belonging to “her”, but not knowing her: maybe when I am in the subway going to Paris, I might be seated next to her :-)(or more likely she is from Germany, who knows?)! I do not forget my fabulous family and friends: they have always been around me in the bad days and in the good days…

You are all very precious for me: I love you from the bottom of my heart!

Of course it is not yet the end of the story: there will be other up and down…

To be continued…

Here is a sample of the results for the last analysis I have done:

If interested, you will find a full copy of the results at:

Click to access 1974_001%5B1%5D.pdf

On June 24th 2016, I had the hematopoietic stem cells transplant performed at the saint Antoine Hospital in Paris (by Marie: it was a first time for her!).

Tomorrow, it will be the second anniversary of the transplant Hard to believe!

To “celebrate” this event, I decided to display a set of photos made during those two years,; I mean photos of me ;-)!

I have made  a slow recovery, but I am doing OK! I will never be the same as before, mainly because I am now a chimera, part of my old self, part of a lady!

Of course, if I am in pretty good shape, it is because of the fantastic work done by the team of doctors and nurses at Saint Antoine and in particular my kind graft doctor, my stem cells donor (she saved my life and I will never know who she is), and my family and friends (they are and have always been around to help and comfort me during the difficult days, and share the good days too!). I love you all!

Next week, I will have my regular apointment with my graft doctor. I will get the results from the blood analysis and the myelogram. I will post these results… Fingers crossed!

Last week, we spent some days in Ardèche: I took the oportunity to visit churches and find new Saint Antoines!

The day before: early june 2016. Short hair cut!

No hair! early july 2016

Going home: July 13th 2016

Dining out first time: October 2016

At home: hair are growing: spring of 2017

June 2017: Noirmoutier island: more hair!

September 2017: lake Ontario!

February 2018: Ontario

April 2018: Nanjing (China)

Following the advice of Marceline: hat and sunglasses!

June 2018: Mont Gerbier de Jonc…

And an Italian St Antoine sent to me by Nicole…

Last monday I had another round of photopheresis at the Saint Antoine hospital. This time, Nathalie was the nurse in charge of me.

This time, no blood sampling to make analysis, as I had a full analysis a week ago (remember the fainting guy? ;-)!). On the other hand, I was “the center” of attention, as we had the visit of a technicien from the company which is making the machine: she trained two nurses to use the new software of the machine.

Nathalie put me under the heating blanket, so I would have soft veins, and thus the pressure will be more regular…

To insert the needles in the veins, the nurse put a tourniquet on the arm and gave me a soft “ball” in my hand to squeeze . Last time, I “complained” about not having my usual heart-shaped ball. This time, Nathalie, remembering my comments, gave me a pink heart-shaped ball (see the photo at the top of the article): thank you so much Nathalie! All the nurses are so fantatic :-)!After a speedy process, less than two hours, I was able to leave the hospital, and I took a bus to go to work…

This morning, I did not come empty-handed: the day before, I prepared a carrot cake for my “good friends the nurses from the photopheresis”! If, one day, I don’t need anymore to have photopheresis, I will miss them a lot.

Speaking of this, I have to say that, if the physical part of the recovery is going well, since a few weeks, I started to worry for the future. In fact, I am afraid of being left “almost alone”, when the apointments with my graft doctor, the photopheresis nurses, etc, will be less and less frequent. After having discussed the point with my family and friends, I decided to look for some help, and had an apointment last week with the psychologist of the department of hematology. After this first discussion, I left her convinced that she will be able to help me. I will meet her again in two weeks. After all, I am not Superman;-)!

The second anniversary of the graft is pretty close, June 24th, and if I am living an almost “as before” life, it is because of the people who took care of me at the Saint Antoine hospital and in particular my fantastic graft doctor, of course my beautiful stem cells donor (I will never meet her…), not forgetting my family and my friends who made me laugh even in the most difficult times (remember belly dancing?). I love you all!

This week is a special week for me: next month it will be the second anniversary of my hematopoietic stem cells transplant. To “celebrate” this special event, I will have to go through several analysis and tests to check if everything is going in the right direction. On tuesday, I had to do a blood analysis and a myelogram. I was confident that everything would go smoothly, as I am kind of used to these procedures…

Not this time! Remember what happened in early 2016? At this time, I was a beginner in the domain of blood analysis and blood transfusion. One day, during one of those “experiments”, I fainted without warning and falled from the chair: blood everywhere on the floor, since at that time I was short in platelets… From this day on, the nurses put a big red dot on my file, and called me “the fainting guy”: I became “popular” in one day in the day hospital!

Today, a lot of tubes were needed because there were several “sophisticated analysis” to be done, mainly to check the state of my immune system . The nurse, from the beginning, told me that it was as if it was a “drain of blood”! Well, she was just right! Almost at the end, just two tubes left, I started to not feeling good, and told them. But I fainted immediatly and had no memory of what had happened. When coming back to life, it took me a few seconds to remember where I was ;-)! When I saw the nurses all around me, I thought “not again”! They gave me some orange juice and some cakes, and after a few minutes I was able to go to the waiting room: my day was not over yet! I had a myelogram waiting for me;-)! I had some rest, then the doctors came for the myelogram. Very professional as usual! It took just a few minutes, no pain! They are really skilled! They showed me the plates they made, telling me: see the small dots, those are the bone marrow parts! The marrow is “rich”: ah ah, good for me! Of course, we have now to wait for the full characterization! It will take a few weeks. Just in time with the visit to my kind graft doctor, at the end of june. Before, I will have some respiratory test, but no problem with that!

I will had soon some other informations, but before leaving you, I would like to explain from where the photos below are coming: we visited the Klimt exhibit at “Atelier des lumières” in Paris : it is worst the visit! (http://www.atelier-lumieres.com/).

I will not finish without saying that if I am writing these words, it is because of the fantastic work done by the doctors, the nurses and all the people at the Saint Antoine hospital. Of course, I would like to thank my nice graft doctor, my donor, my family and my friends: they supported me and are still supporting me during the bad days and the good days: I love you all !

Enjoy life :-)!