Take the "A" Train

BOX SCORE
Element	Current	Std. Range	Trend
Hemoglobin	8.2	13-17	^
Platelets	6	140-375	v
ANC	10	1800-8300	v

You must take the "A" train
To go to Sugar Hill way up in Harlem

Thus begin the lyrics to "Take the 'A' Train," the signature song of Duke Ellington, the jazz legend, and his band. The tune was written by Billy Strayhorn in 1939, and the lyrics used by the Ellington band were later written by 20 year old  Joya Sherrill, while listening to the song on her radio in Detroit. Her father, an activist, arranged for her to meet with Ellington, who was so impressed with her style that he hired her as a vocalist for the band.*

To me that song has always suggested going to exotic places. I have never been in Harlem, but I have been in Manhattan (about 60 years ago) and have a vague understanding of the use of subway trains as a mode of transport. Apparently, New Yorkers do quite well with them.  

Yesterday, I got a quiet email message from the oncology team. No fanfare; just a little email with some instructions. The instructions were that I would need, within 17 days, to complete a dental exam, a pulmonary (lung)  function test, a chest x-ray, an Electrocardiogram (EKG), an ophthalmological exam, an echocardiogram, a social worker evaluation, a bone marrow biopsy (BMBx) and eventually a Covid test. The email was sent by the bone marrow transplant (BMT) coordinator in Dr. Brow's office. 

Suddenly, Jill and I found ourselves on  the "A" train to all sorts of exotic places. We managed to secure the ophthalmological exam, the chest x-ray and  the EKG in one visit yesterday afternoon to the Skyline Medical Office. We will be returning there this afternoon for a bag of Golden Beauties (platelets). You did look at the Box Score, I trust. 

We also managed to secure appointments for the BMBx and the pulmonary function testing, to be done in Portland and Vancouver, WA, respectively next week. Today, I called for a dental exam appointment, but because of the short time frame, I was told someone will need to call me back. Late this morning, we had a call from the social worker wanting to schedule our psycho-social evaluation. His call came just as we were about to begin a Zoom meeting with Dr. Gabrielle Meyers, the geriatric BMT physician at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU). He said he would call this afternoon. 

So, we have boarded the "A" train with the final destination of BMT. Jill said it is like being on the transplant treadmill.  But things are coming together with amazing speed and ease, given the size of the organizations we are dealing with. We will be making lots of stops along the way, with the final destination being admission to the Knight Cancer Center in Portland for the main event, probably around the beginning of May.

Our meeting with Dr. Meyers was very encouraging. She said there are a couple of standard regimens that are used with geriatric transplant patients. Both are gentler than what would be used with a healthy twenty-something patient. The first option at about 40% of that strength and the second at about 65%. Subject to the outcome of all of these tests I am having, she would like to use the second regimen with me, because there is less likelihood of leukemia relapse post-transplant, and my health is robust enough to withstand the shock of the medications.

The next piece of news is that, of the 500 potential donors, Dr. Meyers chose one as the best possible match. That donor is a young, healthy person who was thrilled to be called into service. So, not only do I (so far, pending the outcome of all the tests) appear to be a good candidate for the BMT regimen that Dr. Meyers has in mind, but she said she is thrilled to have her first choice of donor jump on the "A" train with us. 

Before our meeting with Dr. Meyers, Jill and I prayed that the information we would receive would be understandable, that God would guide us through it all, and that He would be glorified in the end. We came away having exhausted all our questions with satisfactory answers and with the sense that, yes, God is glorifying Himself through this process by continuing to make our progress smooth and mostly uneventful. 

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    for his steadfast love endures forever! (Psalm 118:1)

 

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take_the_%22A%22_Train