Thursday, May 08, 2008

Life in the Slow Lane

The results from my biopsy came in, and there's no bad news.  No signs of leukemia present in my marrow, thank God.  However, there's really no good news, either. Apparently, there's not much else going on in my marrow, and it should be cranking out the white blood cells right now.  The White Coat Folks are concerned as I am young and should be bouncing back at a more accelerated rate.  Right now my recovery is taking a slower than average pace.  My main attending doc said he's confident my white count will come up; it's just a matter of time.

My poor bone marrow has really taken a beating.  First there's the invasion of the Stupid Leukemic Zombie Cells that crowded out and devoured all the normal healthy cells.  Then we send in Zombie Warrior with her arsenal of chemo weaponry.  She plowed through the halls of my marrow leaving a wake of gore and shell casings.  The zombie cells were annihilated, but somewhat at the expense of my bullet hole-riddled marrow.

The latest and greatest news from The White Coat Folks is that they may take me off of the antibiotic I've been receiving every six hours through my IV, Cletus.  Apparently, some medicines and antibiotics actually can suppress white count production.  The docs are hoping that perhaps this is the answer to my pokey white blood cell production, and by pulling me off the antibiotic, we might be able to get this show on the road.

So there we are.  More waiting.  More frustration.  Thank the Good Lord for all my readers and Pajibans who have been gifting me with books and entertainment.  It chases away the boredom, fo' sho'.

Blood Drive in my honor to be held Thursday, May 15 from 3-7 pm!


For those of you in the RVA area, a blood drive is being held next Thursday at Dumbarton Elementary School, located at 9000 Hungary Spring Rd. in the West End (near Hermitage High School).  The drive was organized by the staff at the school, which is also the school where my mother works.  They are holding the drive in my honor because we all know what a freakin' vampire I've been since moving to LeukemiaTown, scarfing down blood transfusions.  

If you are interested in participating in the drive, please let me know, so we can contact the school with a rough estimate of donors (It helps the Virginia Blood Service staff for the drive.).  Please feel free to pass the word about the drive to anyone you think would be interested.  If you've never given blood, I encourage you to consider it.  Maybe the process is a little uncomfortable, but you just don't know how valuable these donations are to those of us who need them.

I leave you with a tip on Life in The Big House:  Avoid cooking shows, like Top Chef.  I was practically slobbering all over myself watching last night's episode.  Even though in real life, I'd never have eaten beef brisket or Chilean sea bass.

6 comments:

Daniel said...

Sign me up, and if they have the nifty machine there, I'll do the platelets.

Anonymous said...

Good luck! I'd come myself, but I'm not allowed to donate again until June-- but I'm about an hour and a half north of you, so maybe some of my blood will get to you? Somehow?

TK said...

You named your IV Cletus?

I'm nowhere near you, but I promise to donate in your honor.

Anonymous said...

I am a person in a White Coat, and I am wishing you the speediest of recoveries. Unfortunately I will not be able to donate any RBCs since I reside in Chicago and the constraints of private practice rule out jaunts to VA. Hope all the Pajibans in the Richmond area participate, as there is an abominable shortage of donor blood. Godspeed

rlr260 said...

Congratulations on your clear bone marrow biopsy! I know that is a huge load off your mind. I'm just visiting from Pajiba. I'm nowhere near Va for your blood drive, but I will try to donate locally. I love your Willy Wonka imagery. I've heard of visualizing Pacman eating up bad cells, too. Hope you continue to improve.

Rachel R

Anonymous said...

Count me in on the 15th!! I hope you are doing well and congrats on your clear biopsy!!

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