I'm Free to Play in the Dirt

I had a follow up appointment with Dr Long and Tanya Helms, his physician assistant (PA), Thursday afternoon. He checked my blood counts and saw me in the return clinic. The area with the row of Duke blue recliners is for everyone who is getting checked after their bone marrow transplant or chemo and for blood transfusions or the infusion of electrolytes like potassium and magnesium when they are low. It is also where I received my IV antibiotics and anti-fungal medicines everyday back in July when I had pneumonia and all those fevers for days on end. The return clinic is their name for the part of the building that runs like a regular doctor's office. You check in, they weigh you and take your blood pressure, and then you wait for the doctor and/or PA to see you in a regular exam room. It is a graduation of sorts from the other area which runs more like a day hospital (though the wait is at least as long since my doctor runs 1 to 1 and 1/2 hour behind schedule-ouch!).

Thursday was my first day of follow up in the return clinic. Tanya saw me first and gave me my lab results (Hemoglobin 9.8, platelets 116,000, white cell count 3.8 with a neutrophil count of 2200), and then Dr Long came in so that we could discuss the plan from here. I had several questions (1. Can I have a flu shot? yes, but we don't have them here. Get it from your own primary care doctor. 2. Can I return to work Jan 5th as we previously discussed? yes but don't overdo it. 3. When can I garden and handle mulch? now. 4. When can I get my catheter out? today, let's pull it.). All good news. They completed the paperwork to allow me back to work, and then pulled the catheter that I had in my chest for blood draws and transfusions. The line had been inserted back in June prior to my first hospitalization for chemo. It had a pigtail portion outside of my chest and was tunneled under my skin to my neck where it emptied into one of the big veins of my heart. It was sewed into my skin with a few stitches which they had to remove so that they could pull the line. I was a little anxious about them removing it because I thought it might hurt. The removal of my portacath, which was the line and reservoir used when I had my breast cancer treatment, required surgery. But these lines are more superficial and are half outside the body anyway. Tanya gave a big tug on the part outside my chest and bam, out it came despite it's 6 month home in my chest. It didn't hurt a bit-even less than when they use those soapy swab sticks to clean the area every week during my dressing change. What a joy and relief to have that out. Now I can shower without having to first cover the area with saran wrap, and I can soak in a bathtub. Nice. At the end of the visit, Dr Long shook my hand and congratulated me on the end of my treatment. He did that touching kind of handshake where you take your second hand and cup it over the patient's hand. It was very sweet.

After the clinic appointment, they sent me over to Duke South Radiology to have a chest X-ray. They still had me taking the ciprofloxin and posaconazole for the low cell counts and fungal pneumonia from JULY. They didn't want me to stop them until I had a chest film that was clear. So I moseyed over there and slid in before the clinic closed. Friday morning Tanya called to tell me that the film was clear, and I'm free to stop the anti-infectives. I have a lab check for my blood counts in another 2 weeks, and then I see them again January 12th for a follow up bone marrow biopsy. From here on, I'll be getting my blood counts checked every month with a bone marrow biopsy every 3 months (just long enugh to forget how painful THAT is).

Thursday night Holly and I went out to Tyler's taproom to celebrate the end of my treatment. It was great to commemorate the end of that ordeal. My brain is already re-writing the whole experience into something less arduous than it was. That's probably a good thing because, really, who wants to remember how hard it was, how scary that pneumonia was when they couldn't figure out what to treat it with, or how terrible that 7 continuous days of induction chemo felt when I couldn't eat for throwing up so much. I'm glad all of that is behind me, and I can just read about it here when I'm curious about the details that I've repressed.

I am very happy to be free to play in the dirt. Seven months without gardening is a long time for those perennials. I have a lot of cleaning up to do at both houses with many spent stalks to cull and cut back. I'll be busy in the garden here and next w-e in Asheville when we are there.

We just got back from Charleston for my MaMa's 94th birthday party. I'll write about that and the w-e tomorrow.
Photo: Hominy Grill in Chas. where I had an omelette with red rice and shrimp gravy. Holly had the Big Nasty biscuit filled with buttermilk fried chicken breast and topped with sausage gravy.