Skip to main content

My doktors

Faces are getting familiar around here pretty quickly. I see the same handful of people multiple times a day, every day. But here are the two dudes who are making all the decisions, pulling the strings, bringing the bad news, poking me with needles in places that should never get a taste of metal, and generally making my life a nightmare. And of course, they inspire confidence and gently guide me through this very complicated process.

I couldn't decide between the subtle differences in the photos I took of Drs. Bowles and Patil. Either cool/pensive or unabashed good cheer.


Which one do you like?

They were in good spirits, though I get the sense they just gave me some bad news. The chromosomal tests on the bone marrow sample came back, and it turns out there is an abnormality in chromosome 7. I guess this is not favorable, and at this point a stem cell transplant will be in order at the end of chemo.

The rest of the genetic testing is still in the works, and will take a couple weeks to sort out. I'm meeting with the dudes tomorrow morning, along with Mom and Dad. That sounds like a lot of fun. Then right after that, I get my second lumbar puncture. How did I get to be such a lucky girl?

Comments

  1. acbAugust 24, 2017 at 9:48 PM

    I like it just the way you posted: pensive followed by good cheer. Good luck in the morning!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Nearly Final Farewell from Sarah's Parents

Dear Friends - We are deeply saddened that Sarah has entered the ending chapter of her battle with this horrific cancer. The medical experts expect only days left to live. It would really lift her spirits to read about memories you've shared with her and any other comments that you would like to offer. We look forward to hearing from you very soon, and we will read all comments out loud to her. Sarah is doing her best to be her usual spirited self in spite of these difficult times. We are grateful for everyone who has been a part of her remarkable life. Sarah's Mom and Dad
61 comments
Read more

Guinea Pig

Today is day 4 of my first, and hopefully last, clinical trial. It's the first day I haven't had an appointment at the Sarah Cannon Colorado Blood Cancer Institute. I think it might be good luck that the institute and I share the same first name. CBCI is attached to Presbyterian St. Luke's, just a stone's throw from Denver's city park, where you would find the zoo and the museum of nature and science. Brent and I keep saying we'll go to the planetarium one of these days before or after one of my appointments, but it hasn't happened yet. The first day of the trial was long, over 12 hours. It started with an icy drive in, followed by a few unsuccessful attempts to draw my blood before resorting to another picc line. I then met with Dr. Maris, who gave me news I should have been expecting. The results of my testing from the previous week were in, and they didn't look awesome. My bone marrow biopsy showed that the leukemia was back up to 30%. Since my las
16 comments
Read more

What in the hell happened?

Well, I planned to use this domain for some cool, nerdy dev stuff, but "Sarah Develops...Leukemia" kind of works too. I decided to at least try to start a blog to let people know what's going on because I'd like to be in touch with everyone but I'm sure pretty soon I just won't have the energy to tell everyone everything separately. So, how did I get to be laying in a bed on the 5th floor of the Denver VA hospital? I got my first headache on July 15th, just over a month ago now. Brent and I and Pisco went on a long hike in Golden Gate Canyon State Park. All the wildflowers were out, and we saw a moose (my first Colorado moose sighting ever). It was a pretty ideal day. I drove home, parked the car, walked into the house, and was suddenly hit by a pounding stop-you-in-your-tracks kind of headache. I learned later that it was a thunderclap headache, and I started getting them every few days. Then they became more frequent. I took ibuprofen to keep the headac
10 comments
Read more