Always a surprise

"Worship the Lord your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you."
-Exodus 23:25

My days at MDA are always full of surprises... no matter how much I plan for a day there, I just never know what it will hold. I was expecting to have long wait today since my doctor did not see patients on Monday for the holiday, but the whole day went quickly. Dr. Kantarjian came in and was talking to me and surprised me with this question, "So if you're counts are good, do you want to get this thing (my PICC line) out today?" Umm... are you serious?? I was a bit shocked and rather panicked, but YES I wanted it out. My counts weren't back yet so I had to wait a while to find out if this would be happening. In the meantime I had a list of questions to ask Dr. Kantarjian today (thanks mom!) and after all my questions he asked if there was anything else. Feeling a bit ridiculous I told him I had one silly request, a picture. He was more than happy to oblige, he even made sure we found a better location for the picture :) I wish there was a way to really describe him, but what I type just doesn't due him justice... so here is his picture!
I went back to check on my counts later and they were high enough to get my line removed. I went up to infusion therapy and turned in my orders. As I was waiting to be called I heard my name from the hallway... it was Lyndsay a sweet night nurse I had several times on 12th floor. She recently made a change to working days in the clinic, but I hadn't seen her. It was so fun to talk to her and of course I talked her into a picture as well!
Getting my line out really wasn't as bad as I was thinking it would be. The nurse was very sweet to put up with all my questions and nervousness. I know they told me I wouldn't feel pain, just pressure, but I just didn't believe it... after all, this is what they say about bone marrow aspirations and LPs! However, they were telling the truth on this one, it was a strange feeling, but didn't hurt.

Dr. K wants me to have Dr. Hsu check my blood work next week to make sure my hemoglobin is staying up, but after that my next appointment with him is Oct. 4th! I will go in for blood work and a bone marrow aspiration. He also let me know that after that I will do blood work once a month and a bone marrow aspiration every 3 months for a year. Please pray that I continue to recover and without infection! I also got released to go back to work at the beginning of October... I will be subbing this year and can't wait to get back in the classroom!! Thanks for following me through this journey!