Archive for the ‘ Support ’ Category

LTA (Lighter Than Air)

More than one person has asked me to write about my life outside of my illness. No. Or, not really. Thats some other blog. I’ll do highlights though: I drink orange juice out of the container. No, I will not stop. No, it’s not worth discussing. When I’m on the T, I stand in front [ READ MORE ]

Ponatinib

The only option I had left was a phase 2 study being done in a hospital across the street from where I’d been receiving treatment for the last year. I was not the slightest bit excited about meeting new doctors, never mind new hospital administration. When I was first diagnosed the course of chemotherapy I took was [ READ MORE ]

New Skin

It’s been a while since my last post – Since then I’ve undergone one more cycle of the high-dose methotrexate and was re-admitted this morning for a third and final round.  The chemotherapy hasn’t been too bad aside from some nausea for a few days after the dose but the constant back-and-forth of being discharged and [ READ MORE ]

Home Again

Probably. I may be getting a little ahead of myself but I like to think by now I’m getting pretty good at the whole hospital thing. The only thing keeping me an inpatient is that my body has to clear the toxic amount of methotrexate in my system. The conversation went like this: Me: “So [ READ MORE ]

It’s Really February?

Started the day off with some magnesium via IV and oral potassium supplements (These things are comically large), nothing all that interesting. I’ve never really delved into what it is about my treatment (or disease) that causes me to run low on those two elements so consistently. I’m holding myself back from jumping all over [ READ MORE ]

Delay

So after all that I never had my procedures done yesterday – My numbers are right on the cusp for meeting the criterion for remission and they don’t want to have to redo painful procedures if my blood counts dip a little (which they often do) before the bone marrow results come back. In the [ READ MORE ]

Dr. B

Because Beth Israel is a Harvard Medical School (HMS) teaching hospital the doctors on the HEMONC unit rotate each week. There are five rotations of different ‘attendings’ (head honchos) and even more fellows (doctors receiving specialized training in Hematology/Oncology), lastly there is an intern who has a 6-week rotation on the unit. The attendings specialize in Hematology/Oncology [ READ MORE ]

Updates

I’ve added a page which explains how I came to be diagnosed with ALL. It seemed appropriate. My good friend Stephanie is participating in the Mooseman Triathlon, a 32 mile swim/bike/run, on June 5 (her birthday!) as a member of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Team In Training. She became involved after my diagnosis [ READ MORE ]

My old view from 765 Feldberg at BIDMC


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Links:
- XKCD
- Dinosaur Comics
- My Reddit Bump
- My Reddit Bump: Redux

Blogs:
- Road to Remission