Waiting

July 3, 2023

Have you seen the viral videos of bottles rolling down stone steps? Andrew Kelley and David love to watch these. There are various bottles, and you anticipate where they will break and how exciting the inevitable break will be. There is tension and then release. In particular, a Miller High Life breaks early and with some carbonation force. A liquor bottle can take much more abuse, and tends to just bleed out with the inevitable break lacking carbonation. I get bored with the videos; the bottle will break; I just don’t care.

My life seems somewhat similar. Things are set in motion, and I just wait for the results. Bottles roll down the steps and we wait to see how they break. Every morning around 5:00 my blood is drawn, and the results are tallied and reported back. I had a brain MRI (didn’t really tell people about that one, sorry, I’m fine!), I’ll have bone marrow biopsies done. I ask about my basophil numbers and how I’ll feel next week. Hopefully there is nothing explosive from the findings.

On day 14 (and I’m now on day 10 tonight I think) I’m supposed have a repeat bone marrow biopsy. One doc told me they are looking to see zero bad cells. We heard from another doc they are looking for less than 5%. That sounds a whole lot easier than none. The biopsy is actually sent out to be reviewed, and in the past, we’ve gotten results back in a couple of days or so. If the biopsy is done Friday, results may come early next week.

Because some have asked, the bone marrow biopsy isn’t horrible. In the hospital it will be done “CT guided” and “with sedation.” Those are all good words to hear, and I won’t feel a thing during the procedure. I’ve been a little sore afterwards, but that’s not the worst thing ever.

I’m still fine, perhaps a little more tired? Perhaps a little crazier?