Leukemia - Epilogue

"At a certain point you cannot talk or intellectualize your way past reality.  We need to find a way of getting around the notion that you can create your own reality by sheer insistence." - Me

The previous post is here:

We returned, exhausted but exhilarated, to our home in northern Idaho, having spent about six months in Seattle undergoing treatment for Acute Myeloid Leukemia.  The dog was overjoyed to see us, and has been pretty clingy ever since our return.  Six months is a lot of years in the life of a medium-sized dog. 

Shortly before we left Seattle, there were a number of tests that I had to complete.  A bone marrow test - which confirmed the findings of the first test at day +28, showing 100% donor marrow and zero leukemia blasts.  I had a bone density test, to see how badly the chemotherapy had ravaged my frame.  They took photos of my range of motion - so that if Graft vs. Host (GvHD) ever attacks my skin, they will be able to estimate the severity of it.

One of the things that I'd not mentioned in previous posts about engrafted bone marrow, is that there is a beneficial thing that occurs: Graft vs. Cancer.  The new graft has the ability to identify and attack any remaining cancer cells - which is part of what went wrong with my own bone marrow.  Graft vs. cancer can actually cure people who are not in remission - although that was not a good option with my type of leukemia and the ASXL1 mutation that caused it.

At the final visit  with our longtime RN and physician's assistant, we gave them each some small parting gifts, then it was time for the final checkup.  I got on the exam table and she checked lung function - four deep breaths, then listened to the heart.  Next she put the stethoscope on my belly.  I asked with a straight face "Checking for Peristalsis?", she said yeah, checking to see if you are moving stuff.  I said "Pretty big word for a guy with a 12th grade Idaho education, isn't it!",  That got a chuckle out of her.

I'm currently visiting the clinic once per week, being checked for chronic GvHD, for blood counts and for minerals.  I'm still taking a ton of supplements, antivirals, and antibiotics.  The immune suppression is being tapered, and I'll be finished with one of them mid November, and another in mid December.  The final immune suppressant will be tapered early in 2027, and with luck the journey will have ended except for intermittent visits to the clinic.