Sorry, I told you I would know if I was in remission yesterday. Then yesterday I told you I actually wouldn't know for sure until today. And today I have to tell you that I won't know for sure until next week.
*sigh*
So here's what happened. Drs. McDermott and Patil came down and told me yet another test would be needed to determine if the cells they saw from my bone marrow biopsy are leukemia cells or Sarah cells. The test the pathologist ran was looking for a protein marker on the surface of these cells. I guess the results of this test are not conclusive enough to say for sure one way or another, and the only way to really say for sure is to look at the chromosomes. It's a FISH test, or Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization test. That's like the fanciest fish name I've ever heard. The FISH test is what they did with the first sample, which determined that we were looking at monosomy 7. The results from that first test came back on a Thursday following a Friday bone marrow biopsy. I'm told the results from this test will come back in 5 to 7 days, so that sounds about right.
I wish I had more information for you, but I don't. So instead, I'll show you this gross picture of my arm.
After they removed the picc line, I had a dressing on that hole for about a week before I finally started working on that nasty adhesive. I learned something in the process though. Most people use alcohol swabs on sticky things like this, rubbing it over the sticky to work it off. But there's something way better, at least in my opinion. My nurse today, Ewa, gave me some adhesive removal pads.
It's like goo gone I guess. Kind of oily and slippery feeling. You just hold it between the sticky thing and your skin and squeeze the fluid out as you peel the thing off. It was truly magical.
She had some more magic in her bag, too. Today for the first time I found out I can use special shower gloves that keep my picc line or IVs or whatever dry. For weeks I've had CNAs use all sorts of things to wrap up all my equipment. Aqua guard things, plastic bags cut in multiple different ways, and mounds and mounds of tape. But check out the glove sleeve on this guy!
*sigh*
So here's what happened. Drs. McDermott and Patil came down and told me yet another test would be needed to determine if the cells they saw from my bone marrow biopsy are leukemia cells or Sarah cells. The test the pathologist ran was looking for a protein marker on the surface of these cells. I guess the results of this test are not conclusive enough to say for sure one way or another, and the only way to really say for sure is to look at the chromosomes. It's a FISH test, or Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization test. That's like the fanciest fish name I've ever heard. The FISH test is what they did with the first sample, which determined that we were looking at monosomy 7. The results from that first test came back on a Thursday following a Friday bone marrow biopsy. I'm told the results from this test will come back in 5 to 7 days, so that sounds about right.
I wish I had more information for you, but I don't. So instead, I'll show you this gross picture of my arm.
After they removed the picc line, I had a dressing on that hole for about a week before I finally started working on that nasty adhesive. I learned something in the process though. Most people use alcohol swabs on sticky things like this, rubbing it over the sticky to work it off. But there's something way better, at least in my opinion. My nurse today, Ewa, gave me some adhesive removal pads.
It's like goo gone I guess. Kind of oily and slippery feeling. You just hold it between the sticky thing and your skin and squeeze the fluid out as you peel the thing off. It was truly magical.
She had some more magic in her bag, too. Today for the first time I found out I can use special shower gloves that keep my picc line or IVs or whatever dry. For weeks I've had CNAs use all sorts of things to wrap up all my equipment. Aqua guard things, plastic bags cut in multiple different ways, and mounds and mounds of tape. But check out the glove sleeve on this guy!
"It's so easy I can put it on by myself!"
I can also shower in style, and smile and have big muscles, which is the most important thing.
Suuuuuuch big muscles!
ReplyDeleteYou're gonna be ripped! Hooray for the right tools for the tasks at hand.
ReplyDeleteWhat a relief to be able to take a worry free shower again! It's the little things......right?
ReplyDelete