08 - The Bone Marrow Transplant Visit

Oh, Almost forgot to tell how the visit with the Bone Marrow Transplant Center went. Nothing too exciting really, except that I made it to LA within 45 minutes, meaning I arrived an hour early for my appointment. Go figure, leaving at 8AM you’d figure on a nice traffic logged journey (almost a little disappointed). So, naturally I actually had to wait ‘till it was my appointment time (though I got my Blood Pressure taken, height measured and was weighed in an hour early).

First I met with the Bone Marrow Transplant specialist who explained some about the disease and the bone marrow transplant and why they were having me meet with him in the first place; basically to get the process started just in case the drugs didn’t work, and to see if my sister would be a match to me. I asked a few questions I had, he did a physical (I was just starting my cold and had the aforementioned “kennel” cough) and he ordered some blood tests. Then I got to meet with the Social Worker who asked me how me and the family were coping with things, what my support system was like (more for bone marrow transplant reasons than mental health reasons I think) etc. etc.. Basically they wanted to make sure I wasn’t suicidal under all of this. They took down my sisters address who should be receiving a kit to get her blood tested which she would have to FedEx back to the City of Hope Hospital. Hopefully we’ll be match but our personalities are quite different (not sure if that makes a difference), and I’m a lot prettier (I’m sure that’s a factor) so chances are slim :-). On a side note I did mention to the Social Worker that a meeting like this would probably be a bit more useful right after you’re told you have Leukemia That way they might be able to talk you out of the cliff jump you’re about to make rather than have a no show for their appointment. Don’t think my suggestion will change the procedures in place, but at least I got my 2 cts in. After that it was on to the blood tests……….

Having blood drawn twice a week for the past couple of weeks I’d kind of gotten used to the blood test thing, but this time we went beyond anything I’d seen before. As the printer started spitting out labels the receptionist told me to go and take a seat so they can get started, she’d bring the rest of the labels in a minute. Casually asking how many vials of blood are being drawn she replied she wasn’t sure but it seemed to be a few. Well after counting the glasswork in front of me on the table it turned out to be 24 vials, which naturally took a few seconds to get filled. I was expecting a glass of OJ or something, but that didn’t seem to be necessary. In all honesty my hand was starting to feel a little numb but I wasn’t faint or anything. However, when you see the stacks of glass tubes in front of you, you’re kind of put back in place about the seriousness of the whole Leukemia thing. All in all I definitely left feeling a little more depressed than I did when I came.