Everything Looks Good…

At least that’s what my nurse said when she left a message. So I guess all of the big stuff is fine. No small feat. I really want to talk to someone and get the real numbers on a few items. I want to see if my liver function has improved at all. There is another number that tells how well my immune system is functioning. When this number dips below 500, it is dangerous for a patient to be exposed to anything in the environment that could make them sick. At my 3 month check-up this number was 40, and it was up to 170 at my 6th month check-up. I haven’t heard yet where this is. They also checked my thyroid functioning and different hormone levels. No results yet.

At the clinic last week, they took a bone density test. I did very well on this before my transplant, and I thought that maybe all of the chemo would have damaged my bones significantly; however, I was still off the charts on bone density (120th percentile). The doctor said that I would have to live to be 130 before I would show signs of osteoporosis. Maybe this is why I have never broken any bones – considering the daredevil lifestyle that I live.

The doctor continued to remind me that although all of this is good news, we still need to wait for a few more years to consider me cured. Most experts say 5 years without relapse can be considered a cure. The form of leukemia I have is particularly difficult to keep in remission when you are diagnosed after age 15. When I went for my original consult, they said that I probably had less than a 25% chance of beating the cancer without a bone marrow transplant. It was a difficult decision to make to go ahead and have the transplant. Many people die from the complications. Only about 50% make it to the one year mark. Overall, the transplant has given me about a 45% chance of not relapsing. Although I always remember that my story is not everyone else’s story and that I am a statistic of one. I either make it or I don’t (100% or 0%).

In many ways it is out of my hands. You don’t get leukemia from lifestyle choices, and I really feel that I have had some of the best medical care available. God knows exactly what my future holds, and I refuse to waste today by stressing about what might be in the future. Death is not the worst thing to face. It is the inevitable. The worst is to die without knowing what it feels to really be loved by God.

Thanks for reading my ramblings. I am going to post some crazy pictures. My hair keeps growing, and somehow I find myself missing bald – No planning what to do with my hair. Now I have to think about it.

Laura

Micah and Noah - The best boys in the world

Noah is taller than me now

The boys and Scout