Hermit-ically Sealed
To begin:
Yay. Shit. Yay. Shit. Yay. Shit, shit. Yay, yay, yay. Shit.
Yay. Shit? Yay? Yay.
To explain:
While the results from my CT and chest x-ray have come back,
and the chemo to date has been marvelously effective, I will still be getting
two more rounds of it, above and beyond the original treatment regimen. This is
largely because a suitable donor has not yet been found, and my doctor wants to
play it very safe. I can't fault that logic, and my lymph nodes have shrunk dramatically (with one of
the four involved nodes having resolved completely), but I wanted some freedom
and autonomy for a while.
When my doctor gave me the news and new plan I must have
made a face, because he said, "What's the matter? You should be ecstatic
over these results!" Which made me feel slightly sheepish because I was
pouting over not being able to roll in other people's germs without grotesque
consequence.
I will be having that chemotherapy for lunch on Thursday
(and Friday, and Saturday), and that's okay. It simply means that I must resume
cyclic hermitry for the next month and a half. I shall be done with plenty of
time to become immuno-competent before Christmas, which means the rest of the
family can make plans without having to factor around someone potentially being
sick, and how that would pertain to li'l ol' me.
Le sigh. Oh well, I guess
I can spend another month playing video games and reading without feeling
guilty about time I should be studying or working. Plus, this leaves me with
plenty of time to write.
Okay, so I somehow accidentally deleted a comment. It is early and I am full of meds. It is not that early. Le sigh.
ReplyDeletefrom Twitch:
"This website says stem cell and marrow donors. Will I have to get a big needle into my hip bone at some point if I sign up for this? Be honest."
My Reply:
It does say that, yes. They may ask, that is true, but there are two relevant pieces of information:
All donation is voluntary, so you cannot be compelled to donate for any person. More importantly, though, is that bone marrow transplants are dropping off in a big way, being replaced by the far easier (especially on the donor) blood-based stem cell transplants. They both accomplish the essentially the same thing, so whenever possible, they go with the much easier option.