Red Cells and White Cells and Platelets, Oh My!

There’s an old saying that goes something like this: "Sometimes, you have to kiss a lot of toads, before you find your prince.” Now, this doesn’t apply directly to me, since A) I was never looking for a prince in the first place, although if you replace “prince” with “princess” I have already scored in that category, even though Jill is more like a queen than a princess; and B) my reason for bringing this whole topic up has nothing to do with princes or princesses, it has to do with leukemia and stem cell transplants and lab tests, and stuff like that. Still, there is some truth in that old saying that was engendered of fairy tales.  The following is not a fairy tale. When we last left our story, I had just had a Bone Marrow Biopsy (BMBx) and a nice long nap. Today, I received the second of two reports of the results of that BMBx. The first report came a couple of days ago. That report addressed something called Chimerism. " Chimerism  is a rare condition where a person or an...

I had intended to publish this message yesterday, May 8, 2025, which was the first anniversary of my successful bone marrow stem cell transplant. My present for having arrived hale and healthy at what I am variously calling my “other birthday,” “ John Dillinger’s birthday ,” or “the first day of the rest of my life”  was that I received another bone marrow biopsy (BMBx). It was number 13 or 14 in a long string of BMBx. Now, BMBx is not a big deal. It takes about 30 minutes, is done with local anesthetic, and results in a tiny hole in the skin over my pelvis. On the other hand, the clinician, in this case Michelle Arnold, NP, has me premedicate with a couple of oxycodone (opioid pain reliever) tablets and an Ativan (sedative) tablet an hour before the procedure.  You may think me odd, but I actually kind of look forward to these appointments. The primary reason is that Michelle has been a big part of my care team for the past four years. She is like a dear sister, a trusted the...