Living Now: Getting back to healthy habits

Your recovery from a blood stem cell transplant has likely been almost your sole focus for the last couple of years. That means you might not have had time to think about other parts of your health, like watching your cholesterol or having a cancer screening test, like a colonoscopy.

Now may be a good time to get back to the healthy habits you had before transplant, or maybe start some new ones. No matter where you are in your physical recovery today, it's still important to follow your doctor's recommendations and get regular checkups every year.

Taking your medicines exactly as your doctor tells you is very important to your health.

If side effects from your medicines make you want to stop taking them, talk to your doctor about your options. Never stop or change a medicine without talking to your doctor first. It could be dangerous.

If the cost of your medicines is a problem, talk to your transplant center social worker or a blood or marrow transplant (BMT) patient navigator at NMDP^SM for help finding financial assistance.

Even if you're feeling well, it is important to continue to get regular checkups. These checkups help your doctors find any changes in your health, such as:

• Problems due to your treatment, like early signs of chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD)
• Changes in your quality of life, like problems sleeping
• Signs of your disease coming back (relapse)
• Early signs or symptoms of cancer

It's possible that you will never have any of these problems, or you're already coping with problems from transplant. When issues like these are caught early, there may be more options for treatment which may work better.

NMDP offers post-transplant care guidelines that can help you and your doctor monitor your health and watch for problems so they can be treated right away.

In addition to getting transplant-specific checkups, you should keep seeing your doctor to get the same care recommended for everyone, like:

• Regular blood pressure checks (at least every 2 years)
• Regular blood tests for cholesterol and blood sugar levels
• Colon cancer screening if you're at least 50 years old or earlier if recommended by your doctor
• Screening tests for sexually transmitted infections
• Other screening tests as recommended by your doctor

Women:

• Breast and cervical cancer screening tests as recommended by your doctor
• Bone density tests for osteoporosis (very weak bones) as recommended by your doctor

Men:

• Prostate cancer screening as recommended by your doctor

Details for these guidelines can be found at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. These are general guidelines. Your doctor will recommend the screening tests that are most appropriate for you based on risk factors like your age, the treatments you've had and your family history of a disease. Ask your doctor if there are any other suggested tests based on your situation.

Also, ask your doctor if you need to schedule appointments with other doctors or therapists, like an eye doctor, dentist or physical therapist.

As you continue to recover from transplant, think about what's most important to you and set goals to help you do those things. Start this next phase of recovery by adding meaningful activities to your life. Spend more time with your family, get dinner with a friend, go for a walk every day, volunteer or simply do your favorite hobby. However you find meaning in life, try to do these activities. They will help you enjoy your life to the fullest.