A Glimmer of Good News

We got the results back from the bone marrow aspirate and the results are good:  it means Reese’s supressed bone marrow function is returning back to normal and producing healthy blood cells.  We’re still waiting to hear back on the biopsy which will show if there are any NB cells in the marrow.  Every bit of good news is welcome!

We had to go to clinic today for some follow up blood work (they just needed more blood for the study, nothing to do with Reese’s counts).  It was so quiet, so calm, so civilized.  Reese and I got there at 8:50 and were done 45 minutes later.  Gasp!  Were we in some calm and relaxed parallel universe?  Were the other patients stuck on the DVP?  Did I miss a memo?  I don’t get it, one day it takes 4 hours to draw blood, and today 45 minutes.  Anyway, I’ll chalk it up to a lucky break.  As a result we had an hour to kill before Reese’s next appointment at 11:00.  I spent some of it cramming a Starbucks Banana Chocolate Chip coffee cake in my mouth.  Oh shut up – it’s low fat.  And banana is fruit.  And it was cut in a wedge vs. a full square.  And the Starbucks person who gave it to me was super skinny.  So clearly it’s healthy.  Yeah.  Whatever.  Stress relieved momentarily.  Mission accomplished.  Then we spend a good part of the break throwing coins in the wishing fountain.  You never know….

Then it was up to Nuclear Medicine (nice handle, no?) for the radioactive isotope injection.  The stuff just goes into Reese’s line, and it’s only a small syringe of clear liquid, but she HATES it.  As soon as the technician started to push it through Reese started crying and putting her fingers to her mouth.  They say the older kids describe it as a horrible taste, often metallic and sometimes feels like burning at the back of the throat.  Whatever it was, Reese was not amused.  At least this time she didn’t throw up.  But once it was done (takes less than 2 minutes) and lots of hugs were given she was fine and back to being happy.  And she scored loads of loot for her bravery including a stuffed bear, a baby doll and fistfuls of stickers.  Well deserved honey, well deserved.

Well, tomorrow is The Big Day:  The CT scan and MIBG bone scan.  And I have a raging case of PSS:  Pre Scan Syndrome:  crankiness, irritability, swinging from ice cold panic to blissfully numb, feeling listless to wanting to do something…freakin’ anything!  This is it folks, the last ditch effort before the scans tomorrow starting at 10:30.  We neeeeeeed NED baby, NED!!! NED, NED, NED, NED, NED, NED, NED, NED, NED, NED, NED, NED, NED, NED, NED, NED, NED, NED, NED, NED, NED, NED, NED!!!