The Waiting Game

"Sometimes it's good to be scared. It means you still have something to lose." 

-from Grey's Anatomy

So it's been more than a week now since the Bone Marrow Transplant Team picked my donor. I had hoped I'd know my date of admission and transplant for sure by now. I've bugged my nurse coordinator enough and I promised myself I wouldn't bother her again until Friday morning. It's Monday and I'm already getting antsy. I'm hoping I get a call from her before then.

Right now, she's in the process of filing everything with my insurance for coverage. I'm very lucky in the State of Michigan because I'm unemployed due to being so sick, and I have really good Medicaid coverage. Still, it can take a couple weeks to get approval, so I'm stuck waiting.

In the meantime, my white count has skyrocketed higher than it was when I was diagnosed six years ago. My doctors have increased my Hydrea doses twice. I'm now taking three Hydrea (1500 mg.) every other day and two on the other days (1000 mg.). It's extremely hard to tolerate and it's completely zapping my energy. 

Today, I go see my oncologist. It'll probably be the last time I see him before transplant. I'm not sure what they'll do if my white count keeps rising, but I know leukapheresis is sometimes done to weed out some of the white blood cells. 

My liver numbers have been a little high, but stable. They're pretty much what we consider "normal" for me. 

In the meantime, we're just playing the waiting game. I'm also trying to summon the strength and energy to clean my room and do some laundry, because it's getting to be pretty dire in there.

Here's hoping that I'll have my dates by the end of the week!

xo,

Heather