It's Never Easy

I went to NIH today to have some blood work done because my white counts were a little low at my last check-up. Doug (my Nurse Practitioner) called a bit ago and said my white counts are even lower than they were then and they want to do a bone marrow biopsy to see what's going on. I scheduled it for this Thursday and I'm very, very, very nervous about the procedure. I had one done back in April and it wasn't too bad, but the thought still bothers me. I scheduled the procedure with the best person at NIH. I've heard a lot about this guy and everyone brags about how wonderful he is and how people don't feel a thing. I hope it's true because I'm about to find out. I asked for a prescription of sedatives to take the edge off my nerves. I'll take a sick day at work because my back ached after the procedure last time and I don't need to be at work feeling loopy from the sedatives with a back ache.

I bet you're all wondering what this means, and I asked that question. Doug doesn't think the cancer has returned (yay!), but this could be a result of the rituximab (one of the chemo drugs). After the biopsy, they'll figure out the course of action and I may end up getting GCF shots again for a while. This means Mike gets to be my caretaker again and stick me with a needle for a few weeks. Please pray that everything turns out fine and that I don't freak out with the biopsy and that all I will need is a few weeks of GCF shots to get my white counts up and at 'em. All I want for Christmas is to put this nightmare behind me and move forward with a long, happy, HEALTHY life.