surmising with aplomb and nary remorse
Kurt My wife ran into my doctor this morning while walking about the hospital. After exchanging pleasantries and having a discussion about setting up an appointment for me to meet the new head doctor of oncology, my wife asked my doctor what he thought about the possibilities of the match for my bone marrow transplant. The … Read more
Email excerpt from my Bone Marrow Donor Coordinator: Hello, I emailed the information below to [Kurt’s doctors]; I am still hoping to find another match– but as of date we only have one. Kurt Brindley MR # X-XXX-XX-XX: has 2 haplo* sisters, 1 disparate** sister, 2 MUD [Matched Unrelated Donors] Mis- Matches and 1 MUD … Read more
Most of us are probably familiar with the television drama scene where the doctor, prim in his white lab coat, sits at his desk in his office with a husband and wife sitting across from him. The couple seems apprehensive, knowing that their doctor called them in to tell them something very serious. And then … Read more
Email excerpt from my Bone Marrow Donor Coordinator: When dealing with national and international registries it takes a long time compared to family members who arrive ASAP. World Wide I only found 8 potential matches; of samples we requested we only received 2 of them this week; they are in typing now. I do not … Read more
Finding Out – Part I Of course once I was diagnosed with leukemia I immediately understood why I had become so tired so often beginning sometime around the end of July 2009. Physically, the year started out great. I had ankle surgery in 2007 for a dislocated tendon on my left ankle so I had … Read more
There has been much focus on finding a bone marrow donor match for me. It makes sense because the sole reason I am going through all of the nausea and discomfort of the chemotherapy treatment is to destroy my diseased and dysfunctional bone marrow and replace it with someone’s healthy bone marrow. I named my … Read more
Email excerpt from my Bone Marrow Donor Coordinator: I have found potential MUD [Matched Unrelated Donor] donors but I just requested the samples to be sent here for testing to see if they are fully matched. The samples are kept in the individual registry repository I do not have any planned arrival dates from the … Read more
I have an Hickman line inserted in my juggler vein to administer my chemotherapy as well as to draw blood for my many, many blood tests. It sounds rather creepy but it is better than getting an I.V. or vein sticks over and over again. Either a nurse at the hospital or my nurse at … Read more
Question: “Why was my diagnosis changed to Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) in Bilineal Blast Crisis?” Doctor’s response: Let’s focus on the bilineage part first. White blood cells can be of myeloid or lymphoid origin. When [Kurt] came to the hospital he had a high white blood cell count with mostly lymphoid cells. The high white … Read more
Question: “Why was my diagnosis changed to Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) in Bilineal Blast Crisis?” Doctor’s response: Let’s focus on the bilineage part first. White blood cells can be of myeloid or lymphoid origin. When [Kurt] came to the hospital he had a high white blood cell count with mostly lymphoid cells. The high white … Read more