Skip to main content

I'm out

Out of the hospital, that is. That's one of the ways being in the hospital is like being in the military. Things are either happening very fast or very slow. There doesn't seem to be anything in between.

I had stopped paying attention to my cell counts when I went a couple days without needing a transfusion. Also when I had a longer list of things that annoyed me at University hospital. But every day Dr. Smith, the attending on the bone marrow transplant team, came to see me, he would tell me I looked "too healthy to have leukemia." He was the first to express doubt about my biopsy results that sent me to the University in the first place. So when he came in to tell me the latest results were showing that I was actually in remission, he followed that up with asking if I wanted to go home.

Heck yeah I wanted to go home. Not be woken up at 2am? And again at 4am? Not have to call someone to ask for a gown so I can cover myself before going for a walk? Not be constantly connected to an IV pole? On an uneven floor where it's always rolling away from me? Sure, that sounds fine by me!

My dad was on his way to visit, and didn't get the news I was able to go home till he walked in the door on Tuesday. Good thing he's retired and didn't have anything else on his schedule that day. At least not that he mentioned. In my last few hours at University hospital I had my fifth bone marrow biopsy. I was moderately sedated with Versed this time, and got Fentanyl for pain again. I was awake, and I remember being in pain, but I also remember not caring nearly as much.

And then I was out. I got to go for a walk, without a gown, and walk to a car and get in and ride all the way back home. After stopping at the VA pharmacy for all my antibiotics and antifungals and antivirals. I do have to go to the VA every day for one of my antibiotics because there is no oral form of it, but it's a small price to pay for getting to walk my dog and sleep as long as I want.

Comments

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